REESE  LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


THE 


CHRISTIAN 


O  F 


SLAVERY 


GEO.  D.  ARMSTRONG,  D.D., 

PASTOR   OP   THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   OP   NORFOLK,   VA. 


"  Wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  doctrine 
.vhich  is  according  to  godliness."—!  TIM.  VI.  8. 


NEW    YORK: 
CHARLES  SCJj§BNER,  377  &  379  BROADWAY. 

1857. 


ENTSRED  according  to   Act  of  Congress,  in  the   year  1851,  by 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


W.  H.  TIN80N,  STKKKOTYFER,  43   CE.N 


R.  CRAlGHBAD,  P1UNTEH. 


PREFACE. 


.WITH  the  hope  of  doing  something  toward  bringing  God's  people, 
North  and  South,  to  "see  eye  to  eye"  on  the  much  vexed  question 
of  Slavery,  this  little  book  has  been  written,  and  is  now  given  to  the 
public. 

Throughout,  the  author  has  kept  these  two  ends  in  view : — 

1.  A  faithful  exhibition  of  the  doctrine  respecting  Slavery  taught  by 
Christ  and  his  Apostles.     Nothing  which  they  taught,  has  been  inten 
tionally  omitted.     No  topic  which  they  omitted — however  essential 
to  a  full  discussion  of  Slavery  as  a  civil  and  political  question,  it  may 
be— has  been  introduced.     As  the  simplest  method  of  exhibting  the 
true  meaning  of  the  text,  the  author  has  given  a  paraphrase  of  each 
passage  of  Scripture  particularly  examined,  and  in  connection  with 
his  own,  the  paraphrases  of  Whitby,  McKnight,  and  Doddridge,  ex 
positors  of  established  reputation  both  for  piety  and  learning,  that  the 
reader  may  have  at  hand  the  means  of  determining  whether  or  not  he 
is  putting  forth  novelties  in  the  interpretation  of  God's  Word  :  to 
gether  with  such  notes  as  seemed  needful  to  illustrate  and  establish 
the  paraphrase. 

2.  An  examination  of  the  "false  glosses,"  as  the  authqr  thinks  them, 

iii 

208518 


IV  PREFACE. 

which  Dr.  Barnes  has  put  upon  these  passages  in  his  "Notes"  Dr. 
Barnes'  Notes  are  the  only  exposition  of  Scripture,  in  common  circu 
lation  in  our  country,  in  which  the  attempt  has  been  made,  systema 
tically,  to  "  wrest  the  Scriptures "  respecting  Slavery ;  and  on  this 
account,  they  are  thus  singled  out  for  examination.  Occasionally, 
quotations  are  made  from  Dr.  B.'s  "  Scriptural  Views  of  Slavery,"  and 
his  "  Church  and  Slavery,"  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  he  him 
self  would  develop  the  doctrine  laid  down  in  his  Notes. 

"God's  word  is  truth,"  and,  as  truth,  will  ere   long  govern  the 
world. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PBESUMPTIVE    EVIDENCE. 

PAOB 

§  1.  Preliminary  Statements. — Slave-holding  not  in  any  Catalogue  of  Sins  or 

"  Offences  "  given  us  in  the  New  Testament,    .        .        .        .       .        .        7 

§  2.  These  Catalogues  full  and  minute, 9 

§  3.  New  Testament  written  in  Slave-holding  States, .10 

§  4.  Nature  of  Slavery  in  Christ's  day, 11 

§  6.  Often  referred  to  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles, 18 

CHAPTER   II. 

APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE. 
§  6.   D00LOS, 18 

§  7.  Slave-holders  received  and  retained  in  the  Church.— Eph.  VI.  9 ;  Col. 

IV.  1 ;  1  Tim.  VI.  2  ;  Phil.  I.  2., 21 

§  8.  Case  of  Onesimus.— Phil.  10-19, 88 

CHAPTER   III. 

APOSTOLIC     PRECEPT. 

§  9.  Duties  of  Masters  and  Slaves  taught  as  Christian  Duties.— Eph.  VI.  6-9  ; 

Col.  III.  22-25,  IV.  1 ;  1  Tim.  VI.  1,  2  ;  Titus  II.  9, 10 ;  1  Pet.  II.  18, 19,  50 

§  10.  The  Doctrine  of  Christ.— 1  Tim.  VI.  C, tt 

§  11.  Slavery  a  Matter  of  Little  Moment.— Gal.  III.  28 ;  1  Cor.  XII.  18 ;  Col. 

III.  11 ;  1  Cor.  VII.  20,  21, 65 

v 


VI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

APOSTOLIC     INJUNCTION. 

PA  (-.8 

§  12.  Doctrine  to  be  taught  in  the  Church.— 1  Tim.  VI.  4, 5 ;  Titus  II.  9, 10,  15,  75 

§13.  "Blasphemies,"    .        .        .        .        .        .   -    .        .        .        .        .  82 

§14.  "Logomachies."—!.  "Mere  Property."    2.  "A  Chattel,  a  Thing."    3. 

"  Unrequited  Labor."    4.  "  Theft."    5.  "  Exclusion  from  the  Pulpit."  86 


CHAPTER    V. 

NATURK  AND  ORIGIN  OF  SLAVERY. 

§  15.  Paul's  Definition  of  Slavery .102 

§  16.  Bible  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Slavery, 110 

§  17.  Counter-arguments, 114 

CHAPTER    VI. 

RELATION  OF  THE  CHCRCH  TO  SLAVERY. 

§  18.  The  Discipline  of  the  Church, .117 

§  19.  The  Teaching  of  the  Church, 122 

§  20.  Church  and  State, .124 


CONCLUSION. 
God's  Work  in  God's  Way, 


OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY 
V 

^LiFQSlS 


THE 


CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE   OF  SLAVERY, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PRESUMPTIVE       EVIDENCE. 

§  1.  Preliminary  Statements. 

"THE  Church  is  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Its  officers  are  his  servants,  bound  to  exe 
cute  his  will.  Its  doctrines  are  his  teachings,  which 
he  as  a  prophet  has  given  from  God.  Its  discipline 
is  his  law,  which  he  as  a  king  has  ordained." 

"The  power  of  the  Church  accordingly,  is  only 
ministerial  and  declarative.  The  Bible,  and  the 
Bible  alone,  is  her  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  She 
can  announce  what  it  teaches ;  enjoin  what  it  com 
mands  ;  prohibit  what  it  condemns ;  and  enforce  her 
testimonies  by  spiritual  sanctions.  Beyond  the  Bible 
she  can  never  rightfully  go,  and  apart  from  the  Bible 


8  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

she  can  never  rightfully  speak.  4  To  the  law  and  to 
the  testimony,5  and  to  them  alone,  she  must  always 
appeal ;  and  when  they  are  silent,  it  is  her  duty  to 
put  her  hand  upon  her  lips." — Synod  of  South  Caro 
lina,  1848. 

What  do  Christ  and  his  Aposties — commissioned 
by  him  to  complete  the  sacred  qanon,  and  perfect  the 
organization  of  his  Church — teach  respecting  slavery, 
and  the  relation  in  which  the  Church  stands  to  that 
institution  ? 

"We  reply — They  teach  that  slave-holding  is  not  a 
sin  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  is  not  to  be  accounted  an 
"offence"  by  his  Church.  Having  a  regard  to  the 
distinction  between  slavery  and  the  incidental  evils 
which  may  attach  to  it  in  any  particular  country  or 
age,  as  fundamental  to  their  doctrine ;  and  carefully 
denning  slavery  itself;  they  direct  that  the  Church, 
both  by  her  teaching  and  her  discipline,  shall  labor 
to  remove  the  incidental  evil;  and  this  in  a  way 
which  they  distinctly  point  out : — And,  that,  beyond 
this,  the  whole  subject  shall  be  left  to  be  regulated 
by  the  State,  as  other  civil  institutions  are,  under  the 
wholesome  influence  of  God's  providence,  and  his 
gospel  truth  faithfully  exhibited  by  the  Church. 

The  evidence  that  this  answer  is  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  we  now  proceed  to  set  before  the 
reader. 


PRESUMPTIVE    EVIDENCE.  9 

Presumptive  Evidence. 

SLAVE-HOLDING  DOES  NOT  APPEAR  IN  ANY  CATALOGUE 
OF  SlNS  OR  DlSCTPLINABLE  OFFENCES  GIVEN  US  IN 
THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

This  fact,  which  none  will  call  in  question,  is  pre 
sumptive  proof  that  neither  Christ  nor  his  Apostles 
regarded  slave-holding  as  a  sin  or  an  "offence.5? 
That  we  may  give  to  this  presumption  its  proper 
weight,  we  must  take  account  of  such  facts  as  the 

following  •: 

t 

§  2.  FIRST. — The  Catalogues  of  Sins  and  Discip- 
linable  Offences,  given  us  in  the  New  Testa 
ment,  are  numerous,  and  in  some  instances, 
extended  and  minute. 

In  illustration  of  this  statement,  let  fhe  reader  take 
such  as  these  : — "  Being  filled  with  all  unrighteous 
ness,  fornication,. wickedness,  covetousness,  malicious 
ness;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malig 
nity  ;  whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despite 
ful  ;  proud,  boasters,  inventors  of  evil  things,  disobe 
dient  to  parents,  without  understanding,  covenant 
breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  un 
merciful."— Eom.  I.  29-31.  "Now  the  works  of 


10  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

the  flesh  are  manifest,  which  are  these  ;  adultery,  for 
nication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry,  witch 
craft,  hatred,  varia<  %  emulation,  wrath,  strife,  sedi 
tions,  heresies,  env^  murders,  drunkenness,  re- 
vellings,  and  such  like.5' — Gal.  Y.  19-21.  See  also 
Matt.  XY.  19 ;  Mark.  YII.  21,  22 ;  1  Cor.  Y.  11, 
YI.  9,  10 ;  Eph.  Y.  5  ;  Col.  III.  8,  9  ;  1  Tim.  I.  9, 
10  ;  2  Tim.  III.  2,  3,  4  ;  Kev.  XXI.  8  XXII.  15. 

§  3.  SECOND.  All  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
were  written  in  slave- holding  states,  and  were 
originally  addressed  to  persons  and  churches 
in  slaveholding  states  :  One  of  them — the  epis 
tle  to  Philemon — is  addressed  to  a  slave 
holder. 

Christ  and  his  Apostles  lived,  and  labored,  and 
founded  the  Christian  Church,  in  the  midst  of  slave- 
holding  communities.  This,  the  New  Testament 
itself,  as  well  as  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  his 
tory,  places  beyond  reasonable  question. 

Slavery  was  expressly  authorized  by  Moses'  Law. 
"  Both  thy  'bond-men  and  thy  Ijond-maids,  wliich  thou 
shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  that  are  round 
about  you  ;  of  them  shall  ye  buy  bond-men  and  bond 
maids.  Moreover,  of  the  children  of  the  strangers 
that  do  sojourn  among  you,  of  them  shall  ye  buy,  and 


PRESUMPTIVE   EVIDENCE.  11 

of  their  families  tnat  are  with  you,  which  they  begat 
in  your  land :  and  they  shall  be  your  possession" 
(i.  e.,  your  property.)  "  And  ye  shall  take  them  as 
an  inheritance  for  your  children  after  you,  to  inherit 
them  for  a  possession,  they  shall  ~be  your  bondmen  for 
ever."— Lev.  XXY.  44-46.  The  number  of  slaves 
in  Judea,  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  we 
have  no  means  of  determining  with  certainty. 

In  Greece. — "  When  Demetrius  the  Fhalerian  was 
governor  of  Attica,  the  number  of  citizens  in  that 
state  was  21  thousand ;  the  number  of  foreigners,  10 
thousand ;  and  the  number  of  slaves,  400  thousand."— 
Potter's  Gr.  Ant.  I.  9.  And  Gibbon  estimates  the 
number  of  slaves  in  the  Roman  Empire,  in  the  days 
of  Claudius — the  emperor  contemporary  with  our 
Lord — at  no  less  than  60  million. — Gibbon's  Rome, 
Vol.  L,  p.  26. 

§  4.  THIKD.  The  condition  of  slaves  in  Judea,  in  our 
Lord's  day,  was  no  better  than  it  now  is  in  our 
Southern  states,  whilst  in  all  other  countries 
it  was  greatly  worse. 

In  Judea. — "  Both  the  food  and  clothing  of  slaves 
were  of  the  poorest  description.  All  their  earnings 
went  to  their  masters.  The  maid-servants  were  em 
ployed  in  domestic  concerns,  though  not  unfrequently 


12  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

they  were  compelled  to  engage  in  those  duties  which, 
from  their  nature,  were  more  befitting  the  other  sex." 

"They  commonly  had  the  consent  of  their  masters 
to  marry,  or  rather,  to  connect  themselves  with  a 
woman  in  that  way  which  is  denominated  by  a  Latin 
law  term,  contubernium.*  The  children  that  pro 
ceeded  from  this  sort  of  marriages,  were  the  property 
not  of  the  parents,  but  of  their  owners." — Jakn's 
Archaeology,  pp.  ISO,  181. 

In  Rome. — "  For  slaves,  the  lash  was  the  common 
punishment ;  but  for  -certain  crimes  they  used  to  be 
branded  in  the  forehead,  and  sometimes  were  forced 
to  carry  a  piece  of  wood  round  their  necks,  wherever 
they  went.  When  slaves  were  beaten,  they  used  to 
be  suspended  with  a  weight  tied  to  their  feet,  that 
they  might  not  move  them.  When  punished  capi 
tally,  they  were  commonly  crucified.  If  a  master  of 
a  family  was  slain  in  his  own  house,  and  the  murderer 
not  discovered,  all  his  domestic  slaves  were  liable  to 
be  put  to  death." 

"  There  was  a  continual  market  for  slaves  at  Rome. 
The  seller  was  bound  to  promise  for  the  soundness  of 
his  slaves,  and  not  to  conceal  their  faults.  Hence 

*  "  Contulernium  was  the  matrimony  of  slaves,  a  permitted  cohabi- 

* 

tation ;  not  partaking  of  lawful  marriage,  which  they  could  not  con 
tract." —  Cooper's  Justinian,  p.  420. 


PRESUMPTIVE   EVIDENCE.  13 

they  were  commonly  exposed  to  sale  naked;  and 
they  carried  a  scroll  hanging  at  their  necks,  on  which 
their  good  and  bad  qualities  were  specified." — 
Adam's  Rom.  Ant.,  pp.  48,  51. 

In  Greece.— "The  condition  of  slaves  in  Greece 
appears  to  have  been  much  the  same  as  at  Home." — 
Potter's  Gr.  Ant.,  I.  10.* 

§  5.  FOUKTH.  Slavery,  and  the  relations  which  it 
establishes  are  frequently  spoken  of,  and  yet 
more  frequently  referred  to  by  Christ  and  his 
Apostles. 

The  passages  in  which  they  expressly  treat  of 
slavery  will  be  examined  hereafter.  As  instances  of 
the  incidental  reference  to  it,  on  the  part  of  CHKIST, 


*  As  Rome,  in  our  Lord's  day,  had  extended  her  dominion  over 
the  then  known  world,  her  law  was  the  supreme  law  in  every  country 
in  which  the  Apostles  preached  and  planted  a  Christian  church. 
Under  the  Roman  civil  law,  "slaves  were  held  pro  nullis:  pro  mor- 
tuis  :  pro  quadrupedibus ;  nay,  were  in  a  much  worse  state  than  any 
cattle  whatsoever.  They  had  no  head  in  the  state,  no  name,  title,  or 
register ;  they  were  not  capable  of  being  injured :  nor  could  they 
take  by  purchase  or  descent ;  they  had  no  heirs,  and  therefore  could 
make  no  will ;  they  were  not  entitled  to  the  rights  and  considerations 
of  matrimony,  and  therefore  had  no  relief  in  case  of  adultery :  nor 
were  they  proper  objects  of  cognation  or  affinity,  but  of  quasi-cogna- 
tion  only ;  they  could  be  sold,  transferred,  or  pawned,  as  goods  or 


14r  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

we  may  cite — Luke  XVII.  7-10,  the  parable  of  the 
unprofitable  servant  (doulos,  see  §  6) ;  Luke  XX. 
9-1 8,  the  parable  of  the  wicked  husbandmen,  who 
maltreat,  first  their  lord's  servant  (doulos)  and  then 
his  son  ;  Jno.  YIIL  34,  35,  "  Whosoever  committeth 
sin,  is  the  servant  of  sin,  and  the  servant  (doulos) 
abideth  not  in  the  house  for  ever,  but  the  son  abideth 
ever  ;"*  Jno.  XY.  15,  "  Henceforth  I  call  you  not 
servants,  for  the  servant  (doulos)  knoweth  not  what 
his  lord  doeth,  but  I  have  called  you  friends." 

Evident  reference  to  slavery  on  the  part  of  the 
APOSTLES  we  have  in  1  Cor.  YI.  20,  VII.  22.  "  St. 
Paul,  in  reference  to  the  custom  of  purchasing  slaves, 
on  whose  head  a  price  was  then  fixed,  just  as  upon 
any  other  commodity,  and  who,  when  bought,  were 

personal  estate,  for  goods  they  were,  and  as  such  they  were  esteemed ; 
they  might  be  tortured  for  evidence,  punished  at  the  discretion  of 
their  lord,  and  even  put  to  death  by  his  authority  ;  together  with 
many  other  civil  incapacities  which.  I  have  not  room  to  enumerate." — 
Taylor's  Elm.  of  Civil  Law,  quoted  in  Coopers  Justinian,  p.  411. 

*  "  Here  we  have  an  illustration  drawn  from  what  is  usual  in  com 
mon  life.  The  slave  has  no  claim  to  remain  continually  in  the  same 
family ;  but  may,  at  the  pleasure  of  his  owner,  be  sold  unto  another. 
Not  so  the  son;  he  cannot  be  alienated  from  the  family.  Thus  it  is 
with  the  servants  of  sin,  who  may,  at  any  time,  be  excluded  from 
God's  house  and  favor,  into  outer  darkness  :  whereas,  those  who  have 
the  liberty  of  sons  of  God  will  abide  in  it  for  ever." — Bloomfield's 
N.  T. 


PRESUMPTIVE   EVIDENCE.  15 

the  property  of  the  purchaser,  by  a  very  beautiful 
and  expressive  similitude,  represents  Christians  as 
the  servants  (douloi)  of  Christ.  And  in  Gal.  YI.  17, 
alluding  to  the  signatures  with  which  slaves  in  those 
days  were  branded,  writes : — '  From  henceforth  let  no 
man  trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks 
of  the  Lord  Jesus.'  " — Hornets  Introduction.  With 
the  Apostles  the  word  servant  (doulos)  is  a  favorite 
word  for  setting  forth  the  relation  which  they  sus 
tained  to  Christ,  as  persons  entirely  and  for  life 
devoted  to  his  service,  and  bound  to  implicit  obedi 
ence.  .(See  Kom.  I.  1 ;  2  Pet.  I.  1 ;  Jude,  1.) 

But  the  most  significant  allusion  to  slavery — signi 
ficant  in  so  far  as  the  point  now  under  examination  is 
concerned — is  that  contained  in  1  Tim.  I.  9,  10 : — 
"  Knowing  this,  that  the  law  is  not  made  for  a 
"  righteous  man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  disobedient, 
"  for  the  ungodly  and  for  sinners,  for  unholy  and 
"  profane,  for  murderers  of  fathers  and  murderers  of 
"  mothers,  for  man-slayers,  for  whoremongers,  for 
"  them  that  defile  themselves  with  mankind,  for  MEN- 
"  STEALEKS  (ctndrapodistais),  for  liars,  for  perjured 
"  persons,  and  if  there  be  any  other  thing  that  is  con- 
"  trary  to  sound  doctrine." 

On  the  word  andrapodistais  Bloomfield  remarks : 
"  Expositors  are  agreed  that  the  word  means  kidnap 
ping  free  persons  to  be  sold  as  slaves,  a  crime  uni- 


16  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

versally  regarded  as  of  the  deepest  dye,  -and  always 
punished  with  death." — JSloom field's  N.  T.  And  in 
the  countries  adjacent  to  that  in  which  Timothy  was 
when  Paul  wrote  this  epistle  to  him  we  have  express 
testimony  that  kidnapping  prevailed.* 

The   distinction  between   slave-holding   and   kid- 

D 

napping  is  one  always  made,  in  so  far  as  we  know,  in 
the  laws  of  slave-holding  states.  Under  Moses'  law 
slave-holding  was  expressly  authorized,  (Lev.  XX Y. 
44-46,  quoted  in  §  3,)  whilst  kidnapping  was  made  a 
capital  crime.  "And  he  that  stealeth  a  man  and 
selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his  hand,  (i.  e. 
'  though  he  had  not  actually  sold  him' — Bp.  Patrick^) 
he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death."— Ex.  XXL  16. 
See  also  Deut.  XXIY.  T.  Timothy,  who  "from  a 
child  had  known  the  Holy  Scriptures," — the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  of  course,  for  the  New  Testa 
ment  was  not  written  in  Timothy's  childhood — must 
have  been  familiar  with  this  distinction ;  and  when 
Paul  writes  to  him,  and,  in  giving  a  catalogue  of 
sins  to  be  condemned,  mentions  "  man-stealing " 
among  crimes  of  the  deepest  dye,  whilst  in  the  same 

*  "The  Thessalians,  according  to  Aristophanes,  were  notorious  for 
stealing  persons  of  ingenuous  birth  and  education,  and  selling  them 
as  slaves.  But  if  any  person  was  convicted  of  having  betrayed  a 
freeman,  he  was  severely  punished  by  Solon's  laws."— Potter's  Or. 
Ant.  I.  10. 


PEESUMPTIVE   EVIDENCE.  17 

epistle  he  requires  him  to  teach  slaves  to  obey  their 
masters,  and  this  the  more  heartily  when  the  masters 
are  Christian  men,  and  to  withdraw  himself  from 
any  who  should  teach  a  different  doctrine,  (see 
1  Tim.  VI.  1-5,)  the  idea  would  be  suggested  inevit 
ably  that  the  distinction  made  in  Moses'  law  con 
tinued  under  the  Gospel  dispensation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE. 

"BRETHREN,  be  followers  together-  of  me,  and 
"  mark  them  which  walk  so  as  you  have  us  for  an 
<<  example."— Phil.  III.  17. 

§  6.   DOULOS. 

There  are  several  Greek  words  used  by  the  sacred 
writers  which,  in  onr  English  version  of  the  New 
Testament,  are  alike  translated  servant.  One  of 
them,  the  word  DOULOS,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
examine,  as  preparatory  to  an  intelligent  decision  of 
the  question,  What  do  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
teach  respecting  slavery  ? 

"  Doulos — A  bondman,  slave,  servant,  pr.  by  birth. 
In  a  family,  the  doulos  was  one  bound  to  serve^a 
slave — and  was  the  property  of  his  master,  '  a  living 
possession,'  as  Aristotle  calls  him.  The  doulos,  there 
fore,  was  never  a  hired  servant,  the  latter  being 

18 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  19 

called  misthios  and  misthotos,  q.  v.  See  Potter's 
Gr.  Ant.  Adam's  Eom.  Ant.,  Dictionary  of  Ant., 
art.  servus" — Robinson's  N.  T.  Lexicon. 

"  DouloSj  from  deo,  to  bind,  means  a  bondman  or 
slave,  as  distinguished  from  a  hired  servant,  who  was 
called  misthios  and  misthotos" — Hodge  on  Eph. 
VI.  5.  And  Dr.  Hodge  adds: — "It  is  evident, 
both  from  the  meaning  of  the  terms  here  used  and 
from  the  known  historical  fact  that  slavery  prevailed 
throughout  the  Koman  empire  during  the  apostolic 
age,  that  this  (i.  e.  Eph.  YI.  5-9)  and  other  passages 
of  the  New  Testament  refer  to  that  institution." 

"  The  word  doulos,  contracted  for  deolos,  was  pro 
perly  an  adjective,  signifying  bound;  but,  used 
substantively,  denotes  a  bond-servant,  usually  for 
life."—JBloomfield'8  N.  T.,  Bom.  /.  1. 

For  the  distinction  between  the  word  doulos  and 
several  other  words,  also  translated  servant  in  our 
English  version,  the  reader  can  consult  "  Trench's 
Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament."  His  definition  of 
doulos  is  "  one  in  a  permanent  relation  of  servitude 
to  another" 

Dr.  Barnes  is  one  among  the  few  writers  who  have 
called  this  definition  of  doulos  in  question  ;  with  how 
little  reason  an  examination  of  his  own  authority  will 
show.  The  case,  as  stated  by  himself  in  his  "  Notes," 
is  :— "  The  word  (doulos}  is  that  which  is  commonly 


20  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

applied  to  a  slave,  but  it  is  so  extensive  in  its  signifi 
cation  as  to  be  applicable  to  any  species  of  servitude, 
whether  voluntary  or  involuntary.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  word  itself  which  essentially  limits  it  to 
slavery.  Examine  Matt.  XIII.  2T,  XX.  2T ;  Mark, 
X.  44 ;  Luke,  II.  29 ;  Jno.  XY.  15  ;  Acts,  II.  18, 
IY.  29,  XYL  IT  ;  Bom.  1. 1 ;  2  Cor.  IY.  5  ;  Jude,  1 ; 
Bev.  I.  1,  II.  20,  VII.  3."— Barnes*  Notes,  1  Tim. 
VI.  I. 

Of  these  fourteen  instances  thus  quoted  by  Barnes, 
six— viz.,  Acts,  IY.  29,  XYI.  IT ;  Bom.  1. 1 ;  2  Cor. 
IY.  5 ;  Jude,  1 ;  Bev.  1. 1 — are  instances  in  which  it 
is  used  figuratively,  and  applied  to  the  Apostles, 
either  by  themselves  or  others,  for  the  purpose  of 
setting  forth  the  fact  that  they  were  entirely  and  for 
life  devoted  to  God's  service,  (see  §  5,)  and  the  chief 
beauty  of  the  figure  is  destroyed  if  we  give  the  word 
doulos  any  other  than  what  Dr.  B.  admits  to  be  its 
"  common "  meaning.  Four  are  instances  in  which 
it  is  applied  in  the  same  way  to  God's  people — viz., 
Luke,  II.  29  ;  Acts,  II.  18 ;  Bev.  II.  20,  VII.  3. 
Matt.  XIII.  2T,  in  the  parable  of  the  tares,  the  mean 
ing  of  the  word  doulos  is  positively  determined  to  be 
slave,  by  the  use  of  the  corresponding  term  despotas 
in  the  same  sentence.  For  Jno.  XY.  15,  see  §  5. 
On  Matt.  XX.  2T :— "  But  whosoever  will  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister  (diakonos)  ; 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  21 

and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  yon,  let  him  be 
your  servant"  (doulos). — And  Mark,  X.  44,  is  the 
parallel  record  of  the  same  words. — Bloomfield 
remarks  : — "  Dlakonos — doulos.  There  is  properly  a 
difference  between  these  terms  ;  the  former  signify 
ing  a  servant  like  our  footman  or  valet,  and  usually  a 
freeman  ;  the  latter,  a  servant  for  all  work,  and  also  a 
slave"  For  an  illustration  of  this  difference  in  the 
meaning  of  the  two  words,  as  beautifully  illustrated 
in  the  parable  of  the  marriage-supper,  the  reader  can 
consult  «  Trenches  Syn.  of  N.  T."  All  these  in 
stances  cited  by  Dr.  Barnes,  when  examined,  instead 
of  setting  aside,  do  but  establish  the  meaning  assigned 
to  the  word  doulos  by  all  our  lexicographers  and 
commentators  of  reputation. 


§  Y.  II.  THE  APOSTLES  RECEIVED  SLAVE-HOLDERS  INTO 
THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH,  AND  CONTINUED  THEM 
THEREIN,  WITHOUT  GIVING  ANY  INTIMATION  EITHER 
AT  THE  TIME  OF  THEIR  RECEPTION,  OR  AFTER 
WARDS,  THAT  SLAVE-HOLDING  WAS  A  SIN  BEFORE 
GOD,  OR  TO  BK  ACCOUNTED  AN  OFFENCE  BY  THE 
CHURCH. 

PROOF.— Eph.   VI.  9,  Col  IV.  1,  1  Tim.  VI.  2, 
Philemon  I.  2. 


22  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 


EPH.  VI.  9. 

"  And  ye  masters,  do  the  same  tilings  unto  them, 
"  forbearing  threatening  ;  knowing  that  your  master 
"  also  is  in  heaven ;  neither  is  there  respect  of  persons 
"  with  him." 

PARAPHRASE. — And  ye  masters,  who  are  saints  and 
faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,  Q  (See  I.  1.,)  treat  your 
slaves  (douloi,  V.  5)  in  the  same  Christian  spirit  in 
which  I  have  enjoined  it  upon  them  that  they  treat 
yon,  forbearing  threatening :  knowing  that  your  mas 
ter  also  is  in  heaven  ;  neither  is  there  respect  of  per 
sons  with  him."* 

NOTES.  (]) — Masters  who  are  saints  and  faithful  in 
Christ  Jesus.  The  titles,  Agioi,  saints,  and  Pistol, 
faithfuls  or  believers,  are  the  titles  by  which  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Christian  Church  were  commonly  desig 
nated  in  the  Apostle's  days.  The  name  Christian,  so 
generally  used  in  later  times,  had  not  then  become  a 
common  designation  :  it  is  used  but  three  times  in  the 
New  Testament.  Some  of  the  epistles  are  addressed 


*  To  avoid  distracting  the  reader's  attention,  we  shall  give  a  para 
phrase  of  the  passages  of  Scripture  quoted  in  proof,  in  so  far  only  as 
they  bear  upon  the  point  under  examination  at  the  time  they  are 
([noted. 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  23 

to  "the  churches,"  e.  g.  Gal.  and  1  and  2  Thess. ; 
others  to  " the  saints"  or  "the  saints  and  faithful, 
or  believers,"  e.  g.  Eom.  1  and  2  Cor.,  and  this 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  The  propriety  of  the  para 
phrase  will  appear,  (1)  From  the  address  of  the 
epistle:— "Paul,  < an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the 
will  of  God,  to  the  saints  which  are  at  Ephesus,  and 
to  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,"  I.  1 — (2)  From  the 
motive  with  which  Paul  enforces  obedience  to  his 
injunction : — "  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  master  in 
heaven ;  neither  is  there  respect  of  persons  with  him  :" 
a  motive  which  might  be  urged  with  great  effect  in 
addressing  a  Christian  master ;  but  which  it  would  be 
folly  to  present  to  a  heathen. 

COL.  IY.  1. 

'"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is 
"just  and  equal,  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  master 
"  in  heaven." 

PARAPHRASE. — Ye  mastprs  (who  are  saints  and 
faithful  brethren  in  Christ  at  Colosse,  I.  2),  give  unto 
your  slaves  (douloi)  that  which  is  just  and  equal; 
knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  master  in  heaven. 

1.  TIM.  YI.  2. 
"And  they  that  have  believing  masters,  let  them 


24  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

"  not  despise  them,  because  they  are  brethren ;  but 
"  rather  do  them  service,  because  they  are  faithful  and 
"  beloved,  partakers  of  the  benefit.  These  things  teach 
"  and  exhort." 

PARAPHRASE. — And  they  (i.  e.  such  slaves,  douloi, 
v.  1)  that  have  believing  (pistous)  masters,  let  them 
not  despise  them,  because  they  are  their  brethren  (*) 
(adelphoi)  in  Christ,  but  the  rather  do  them  service, 
because  they  who  are  partakers  in  the  benefits  of  their 
labor,  are  faithful  (pistol)  and  Moved  (*)  (agapatoi) 
of  God.  These  things  teach  in  the  Church,  and 
exhort  Christian  slaves  to  observe  them,  as  "whole 
some  words,  even  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
v.  3.* 

NOTES.Q — "The  titles,  brethren,  saints,  elect,  l$- 
loved,  sons  of  God,  etc.,  have  ever  been  applied  as 

*  "  And  they  that  have  believing  masters,  let  them  not  despise 
them,  because  they  are  advanced  to  be  brethren,  and  so,  equal  to 
them  in  Christ ;  but  rather,  let  them  do  them  service,  because  they 
are  faithful  (i.  r  of  the  household  of  faith)  and  beloved  of  God,  par 
takers  of  the  bei.<  &t.  These  things  teach  and  exhort." — Wltiiby. 

"  And  those  Cb'  '  in  "laves  who  have  believing  masters,  let  them 
not  despise  them,  fancying  that  they  are  their  equals,  because  they 
are  their  brethren  in  Christ ;  for  though  all  Christians  are  equal  as  to 
religious  privileges,  slaves  are  inferior  to  their  masters  in  station. 
Wherefore,  let  them  serve  their  masters  more  diligently,  because  they 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  25 

the  special  prerogative   of  believers,  or  professing 
Christians." — Coleman's  Ancient  Christianity,  p.  110. 

PHILEMON,  I.  2. 

"  Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  Timothy  our 
"brother,  unto  Philemon,  our  dearly  beloved  and 
"fellow-laborer;  and  to  our  beloved  Apphia,  and 
"  Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the  Church  in 
"thy  house." 

PARAPHRASE. — Paul,  a  prisoner  for  the  cause  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  Timothy  our  brother,  unto  our 
dearly  beloved  Philemon,  our  fellow-minister  (suner- 
yos)  in  the  Church;  Q  and  to  our  beloved  Apphia, 
and  Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the  Church 

who  enjoy  the  benefit  of  their  service,  are  believers,  and  beloved  of 
God.  These  things  teach;  and  exhort  the  brethren  to  practise 
them." — McKnight. 

"  And  as  for  those  servants  who  are  so  happy  as  to  have  believing 
masters,  let  them  not  presume  upon  that  account  to  despise  them 
because  they  are  brethren,  and  with  respect  to  sacred  privileges 
equal  in  Christ  their  common  Lord ;  but  let  them  rather  serve  them 
with  so  much  the  greater  care,  tenderness,  and  respect,  because  they 
are  faithful  and  beloved,  and  partakers  with  them  of  the  great  and 
glorious  benefit  which  the  Gospel  brings  to  all  its  faithful  professors, 
of  whatever  rank  or  profession  in  life.  These  things  which  I  have 
been  mentioning,  take  care,  0  Timothy,  to  teach  and  exhort  thine 
hearers  always  to  maintain  a  due  regard  to  them." — Doddridge. 

9 


26  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

which  statedly  assembles  for  God's  worship  in  thy 
house.  (2)  * 

NOTES.  Q — Our  fellow-minister  (sunergos)  in  the 
Church.  "Sunergos.  A  co-worker,  fellow-laborer, 
helper.  In  N.  T.  spoken  only  of  a  co-worker,  helper 
in  the  Christian  work,  i.  e.  of  Christian  teachers." — 
Robinson's  N.  T.  Lexicon.  "Literally,  helper,  (in 
the  cause  of  the  Gospel ,)  whether  as  a  Deacon,  or 
Preacher  to  the  congregation  assembling  in  his  house, 
is  uncertain." — Bloomfield's  N.  T.  "Archippus, 

*  "  Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  Timothy  our  brother,  write 
unto  Philemon,  our  dearly  beloved  and  fellow-laborer;  and  to  our 
beloved  Apphia,  and  to  Arehippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the 
church  in  thy  house." — Whitby. 

"Paul,  confined  with  a  chain  for  preaching  Christ  Jesus  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  Timothy,  our  brother-minister,  to  Philemon  the  beloved 
of  us  both,  and  our  fellow-laborer  in  the  Gospel,  and  to  Apphia,  the 
beloved  of  all  who  know  her,  and  to  Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and 
to  that  part  of  the  Church  at  Colosse  which  is  in  thy  house."- 
McKnight. 

"  Paul,  a  well-known  prisoner  in  the  cause  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  Tim 
othy,  a  brother,  not  unknown,  join  in  their  salutations  to  Philemon 
our  beloved  friend,  andapious  fellow-laborer  in  the  work  of  the  Gos 
pel  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  and  one  of  the  Pastors  of  the  Colossian 
Church;  and  we  also  address  them  to  Apphia,  his  pious  coasort, 
and  to  his  associate  in  the  ministry,  Archippus,  our  fellow-soldier  in 
that  holy  warfare  in  which  we  are  engaged ;  and  the  little  church  of 
Christians  that  is  in  thine  house." — Doddridye. 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  27 

appears  from  Col.  IY.  17,  to  have  been  a  Pastor  of 
the  Church  of  Colosse.  The  title  of  fellow-laborer, 
given  Philemon,  makes  it  probable  that  he  was  his 
colleague  in  the  ministry.  He  seems  from  several 
hints  given  in  the  Epistle,  to  have  been  a  person  of 
distinction :  particularly  from  the  mention  made  of 
the  Church  in  his  house,  (ver.  2,)  and  his  liberal  con 
tribution  to  the  relief  of  the  saints,  (ver.  5,  7 ;)  and 
the  general  strain  of  the  letter  shows,  that  the  Apostle 
held  him  in  very  high  esteem,  and  looked  upon  him 
as  one  of  the  great  supports  of  religion  in  that 
society." — Doddridge,  Int.  to  Phil. 

(2) — The  Church  which  statedly  assembles  for  God's 
worship  in  thy  house.  On  a  similar  phrase  in  Rom. 
XVI.  5,  Dr.  Hodge  remarks  : — "  These  words,  '  the 
church  that  is  in  their  house?  are  understood  by 
many  of  the  Greek  and  modern  commentators,  to 
mean  their  Christian  family  /  so  Calvin,  Flatt, 
Koppe,  Tholuck,  &c.  The  most  common  and  natu 
ral  interpretation  is, '  the  church  which  is  accustomed 
to  assemble  in  their  house.' " — Hodge  on.  Romans. 


REMABKS. 

First. — In  these  several  passages  we  find  an 
inspired  Apostle,  giving  to  slave-holders  the  titles, 
"  Saints,  Faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,  Believers,  Breth- 


28  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF    SLAVERY. 

ren,  Beloved,  Dearly  Beloved"  all  the  titles  by  which 
members  of  the  Church  were  commonly  designated  in. 
the  Apostles'  day ;  and  enjoining  upon  them  their 
duties  as  masters  by  Christian  motives — motives 
which  it  would  have  been  folly  to  have  addressed  to 
heathen  men.  And  in  the  case  of  Philemon,  addres 
sing  a  slave-holder  as  a  Deacon  or  Pastor  in  the 
Christian  Church,  and  along  with  his  salutation  to 
him,  sending  like  salvation  "to  the  Church  in  his 
house." 

Could  we  have  clearer  evidence  than  this  that  the 
Apostles  received  slave-holders  into  the  Church,  and 
continued  them  therein,  seeing  in  their  slave-holding 
nothing  inconsistent  with  "  having  a  good  conscience 
before  God"  and  "  good  standing"  in  the  Church  ? 

Second.  In  his  Notes  on  1  Tim.  YI.  2,  Dr.  Barnes 
writes : — "  Nor  is  it  fairly  to  be  inferred  from  this 
passage  that  he  (Paul)  meant  to  teach  that  they 
(masters)  might  continue  this  (i.  e.  slave-holding)  and 
yet  be  entitled  to  all  the  respect  and  confidence  due 
to  the  Christian  name,  or  be  regarded  as  maintaining 
a  good  standing  in  the  Church.  Whatever  may  be 
true  on  these  points,  the  passage  before  us  only 
proves  that  Paul  considered  that  a  man  who  was  a 
slave-holder  might  be  converted,  and  be  spoken  of  as 
a  c  believer,'  or  a  Christian.  Many  have  been  con 
verted  in  similar  circumstances,  as  many  have  in  the 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  29 

practice  of  all  other  kinds  of  iniquity.  What  was 
their  duty  after  their  conversion  was  another  ques 
tion."  And  in  the  summary  of  the  truth  taught  in 
the  whole  passage,  (ver.  1-5,)  he  adds  :— « It  does 
not  teach  that  a  man  can  be  a  Christian  and  continue 
to  hold  others  in  bondage,  whatever  may  be  true  on 
that  point.  It  does  not  teach  that  he  ought  to  be 
considered  as  maintaining  a  'good  standing' in  the 
Church  if  he  continues  to  be  a  slave-holder."  The 
italics  in  these  quotations  are  Dr.  B.'s  own. 

The  insinuation,  or  rather  the  clear  implication 
contained  in  these  paragraphs  is  that  the  "  believing 
masters,"  here  spoken  of,  were  slave-holders  only  at 
the  time  of  their  conversion,  and  were  required  to 
free  their  slaves  before  they  could  be  permitted  "  to 
maintain  a  good  standing  in  the  Church." 

What  are  the  facts  in  this  case,  and  those  of  the 
passages  similar  in  import  in  the  epistles  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  Colossians,  and  to  Philemon,  Dr.  Barnes  him 
self  being  our  witness-in-chief? 

1.  In  the  case  of  1  Tim.  VI.  2.— Paul  founds  a 
church  at  Ephesus,  A.D.  55,  (see  Barnes'  Int.  to  1  Tim.,) 
and  that  "  the  fall  power  of  the  Gospel  should  be  tried 
there,"  *  that  this  may  be  a  model  Church,  he  spends 

"  The  Apostle,  therefore,  seems  to  have  been  anxious  that  the 
full  power  of  the  Gospel  should  be  tried  there,  and  that  Ephesus 


30  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

three  whole  years  with  it,  "  teaching  publicly  and 
from  house  to  house,  keeping  back  nothing  that  was 
profitable  to  them"  (Acts,  XX.  20).  At  the  end  of 
this  time  he  is  driven  away  from  Ephesus.  but  leaves 
Timothy,  who  "  as  a  son  with  the  father,  has  served 
with  him  in  the  Gospel,"  (Phil.  II.  22),  in  charge. 
Shortly  after  this,  (A.D.  58  or  59 — Barnes,)  he  writes 
his  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  yet  laboring  in  Ephesus. 

Three  years  then,  at  the  least,  after  this  model 
Church  is  founded  by  Paul,  there  are  slave-holders  in 
it,  and  this  fact  is  well  known  to  Paul,  and  in  writing 
to  Timothy,  their  pastor,  Paul  'speaks  of  them  as 
" believers,  "brethren,  faithful,  and  beloved"  And  so 
far  is  he  from  intimating  that  they  ought  to  be 
excluded  from  the  Church,  or  that  they  were  not 
"  entitled  to  all  the  respect  and  confidence  due  to  the 
Christian  name,"  he  requires  Timothy  to  teach  their 
slaves,  also  members  of  the  same  Church,  that  they 
serve  them  (i.  e.  their  "  believing  masters")  the  more 
faithfully,  and  treat  them  with  the  more  respect, 
because  they  are  their  "  brethren — beloved  of  God." 

2.  In  the  case  of  Eph.  VI.  9. — From  four  to  seven 
years  after,  Paul  wrote  his  First  Epistle  to  Timothy, 

should  become  as  important  as  a  centre  of  influence  in  the  Christian 
world  as  it  had  been  in  paganism  and  civil  affairs." — Barnes^  Int.  to 
JSphesians. 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  31 

he  writes  an  epistle  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus,  writes 
it  during  his  second  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and 
shortly  before  his  martyrdom.  (See  Barnes'  Int.  to 
Eph.)  Slave-holders  are  still  in  this  model  Church, 
and  Paul  is  cognizant  of  this  fact.  But  instead  of 
intimating  that  they  ought  not  to  "  be  regarded  as 
maintaining  a  good  standing  in  the  Church,"  he 
specially  addresses  masters  and  slaves,  as  classes  of 
Church  members,  along  with  husbands  and  wives, 
parents  and  children,  giving  them  the  titles  "  Saints 
and  Faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  repeats  to  Christ 
ian  slaves  the  same  direction,  in  substance,  respecting 
their  conduct  which  he  had  before  given  by  Timothy. 

3.  In  the  case  of  Col.  IV.  1. — Paul,  in  conjunction 
with  Silas  and  Timothy,  found  a  Church  at  Colosse, 
A.D.  52,  53.     Some  ten  to  thirteen  years  afterwards, 
he  writes  an  epistle  to  this  Church.    (See  Barnes'  Int. 
to  Col.)     In  this  epistle  he  addresses  slave-holders  as 
"  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ,"  and  carefully 
prescribes  the  relative  duties  of  masters  and  slaves  as 
Christian  men,  and  enforces  these  his  directions  by 
Christian  motives;    but  says  not   one  word   about 
emancipation. 

4.  In  the  case  of  Phil.  I.  2. — At  the  same  time  at 
which  Paul  writes  his  epistle  to  the  Church  at  Colosse, 
and  by  the  same  person,  (see  Barnes'  Int.  to  Col.,)  he 
addresses  an  epistle  to  Philemon,  his  "  dearly  be- 


THE   CHRISTIAN"   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

loved  sunergos,"  ("  deacon  or  preacher"— Bloomfield, 
"  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  church  at  Colosse  "— Dod- 
dridge),  sending  back  to  him  Onesirnus,  a  slave,  who 
had  some  time  before  run  away  from  him,  and  who, 
whilst  a  fugitive  in  Eome,  had  been  hopefully  con 
verted  through  Paul's  instrumentality.  If  we  admit, 
as  Dr.  B.  contends,  that  Onesimus  was  sent  back  in 
accordance  with  his  own  desire,  and  even  that  Paul 
did  request  his  master  to  grant  him  his  freedom,  it 
will  not  affect  the  case,  in  so  far  as  the  point  now 
under  examination  is  concerned.  It  is  clear,  then, 
that  ten  years,  at  the  least,  after  the  Church  at 
Colosse  was  founded  by  Paul  it  had  slave-holders, 
not  as  worthy  members  only,  but  a  slave-holding 
deacon  or  pastor  also,  one  of  Paul's  own  converts 
(ver.  19),  and  one  of  such  standing  in  the  Church 
that  a  part  of  that  Church  was  accustomed  to  meet 
for  divine  worship  in  his  house.  Paul  knows  all  this, 
and  he  writes  to  this  Philemon  an  epistle  of  which 
slave-holding  furnishes  the  occasion,  not  only  without 
any  intimation  that  his  slave- holding  was  inconsistent 
with  his  "good  standing"  in  the  Church,  but  he 
writes  in  terms  which,  as  an  honest  man,  he  could 
not  have  used  had  he  thought  Philemon  an  unworthy 
office-bearer  in  the  Church. 

Is   all  this  reconcilable  with  the  idea  that  a  slave 
holder,  though  "he  might  be  converted — as  many 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  33 

have  been  in  the  practice  of  all  other  kinds  of  ini 
quity — yet  could  not  maintain  a  good  standing  "  in 
the  Christian  Church  in  the  Apostles'  day  2 


§  8.  PAUL  SENT  BACK  A  FUGITIVE  SLAVE,  AFTER  THE 
SLAVE'S  HOPEFUL  CONVERSION,  TO  HIS  CHRISTIAN 
MASTER  AGAIN,  AND  ASSIGNS  AS  HIS  REASON  FOR 

SO  DOING  THAT  MASTER'S  RIGHT  TO  THE  SERVICES 

OF  HIS  SLAVE. 

PROOF. — PHILEMON,  10-19. 


"I  beseech  thee  for  my  son  Onesimus,  whom  I 
"  have  begotten  in  my  bonds ;  which  in  times  past 
"  was  to  thee  unprofitable,  but  now  profitable  to  thee 
"  and  to  me ;  whom  I  have  sent  again ;  thou  there- 
"  fore  receive  him,  that  is  mine  own  bowels :  whom  I 
"  would  have  retained  with  me,  that  in  thy  stead  he 
"  might  have  ministered  unto  me  in  the  bonds  of  the 
"  Gospel.  But  without  thy  mind  would  I  do  nothing, 
"  that  thy  benefit  should  not  be  as  it  were  of  neces- 
"sity,  but  willingly.  For  perhaps  he  therefore 
"  departed  for  a  season,  that  thou  shouldest  receive 
"  him  for  ever ;  not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a 
"servant,  a  brother  beloved,  especially  to  me,  but 
"  how  much  more  unto  thee  both  in  the  flesh  and  in 

2* 


34:  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

"  the  Lord  ?  If  tliou  count  me  therefore  a  partner, 
"  receive  him  as  myself.  If  he  hath  wronged  thee, 
"  or  oweth  thee  aught,  put  that  on  mine  account ;  I, 
"  Paul,  have  written  it  with  mine  own  hand,  I  will 
"  repay  it ;  albeit,  I  do  not  say  to  thee  how  thou 
"  owest  unto  me  even  thine  own  self  besides." 

PARAPHRASE. — I  Paul,  beseech  thee  (Philemon)  for 
my  son  in  the  faith,  Onesimus,  whom  I  have  begotten 
in  my  bonds.  In  time  past,  though  called  Onesimus, 
(profitable,)  he  has  been  an  unprofitable  slave  to 
thee ;  but  now  that  he  has  been  truly  converted,  as  I 
believe,  I  have  confidence  in  him,  that  he  will  en 
deavor  to  serve  thee  "  not  with  eye  service,  but  in 
singleness  of  heart,"  (Eph.  YI.  5,  6,)  doing  it  "heart 
ily,"  (Col.  III.  23,)  as  he  hath  served  me  since  his  con 
version.^)  As  his  spiritual  father  and  instructor  in 
Christian  duty,  I  have  sent  him  back  to  thee  /  (2)  and 
I  entreat  thee  to  receive  him  as  one  that  is  mine  own 
bowels.  Had  I  regarded  mine  own  wishes,  and  not 
thy  rights,  I  would  have  kept  him  with  me,  that  in 
thy  stead  he  might  have  rendered  me  that  service  in 
mine  imprisonment  which  I  know  thou  wouldst  most 
cheerfully  have  done  hadst  thou  been  in  Rome.  But 
that  I  might  not  even  seem  to  compel  thee,  even  where 
I  had  a  right  to  expect  assistance  from  thee,  1  would 
do  nothing  of  the  kind  without  thine  express  consent. () 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  35 

Who  shall  say  but  that,  in  God's  providence,  Onesi- 
mus  escaped  from  thee  for  a  season,  that  thou 
shouldst  have  him  again  for  Ufe.^)  Receive  him 
back  into  thy  family  again,  I  beseech  thee,  not  as  a 
fugitive  slave  (doulos)^)  to  be  regarded  with  suspi 
cion  and  treated  with  severity ;  but,  even,  as  one 
better  than  an  ordinary  slave,  (doulosj)  a  brother, 
especially  dear  to  me,  and,  I  doubt  not,  to  become 
even  more  dear  to  thee,  as  a  member  of  thy  family, 
and  of  the  Church  worshipping  in  thy  house.  If  thou 
count  me  therefore  a  partner,  receive  him  as  myself. 
If,  taking  into  account  his  former  unprofitableness  to 
thee,  along  with  his  diligent  and  willing  service  for 
the  future,  thou  yet  thinkest  that  he  hath  wronged 
thee  in  running  away^)  or  in  any  way  he  hath  be 
come  indebted  to  thee,  put  that  to  my  account.  I 
Paul  have  written  this  with  mine  own  hand,  I  will 
repay  it :  not  to  say  to  thee,  that  as  God  made  me 
the  instrument  in  thine  own  conversion,  thou  owest 
thine  own  self  to  me.* 

*  "  I  beseech  thee  for  my  son  Onesimus,  whom  I  have  begotten — 
i.  e.  converted  to  the  faith — when  I  was  in  my  bonds  :  which  in  time 
past  was  \p  thee  an  unprofitable  servant,  but  now,  if  received,  will  be 
profitable  to  thee,  and  if  sent  back,  to  me :  Whom  I  have  sent  again 
unto  thee,  he  being  in  duty  thine,  and  not  to  be  employed  by  others, 
or  detained  without  thy  leave.  Thou  therefore  receive  him — him,  I 
say — that  is,  mine  own  bowels,  he  being  as  dear  to  me  as  if  he  had 


36  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

NOTES.  (J) — As  he  hath  served  me  since  his  conversion. 
This  is  McKnight's  paraphrase  of  "  profitable  to — 
me,"  and  is  the  only  sense  which  we  can  assign  to 

proceeded  from  mine  own  bowels :  whom  I  would  willingly  have 
retained  with  me,  that  in  thy  stead  he  might  have  ministered  unto 
me  being  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel.  But  without  thy  mind  would 
I  do  nothing  of  this  nature  ;  that  thy  benefit  (or  the  advantage  I 
received  from  him  who  is  thy  servant)  should  not  be,  on  thy  part,  as 
it  were  a  matter  of  necessity,  because  thou  couldst  not  have  him 
returned  to  thee,  but  willingly,  by  thine  own  grant.  For  perhaps  he 
therefore  departed  from  thee  for  a  season,  that  thou  shouldst  receive 
him  for  ever — i.  e.,  to  serve  thee  for  life.  That  thou  shouldst  receive 
him,  I  say,  not  now  as  a  servant  only,  but  above  a  servant,  as  being 
also  in  Christ  a  brother  beloved,  specially  (or,  particularly)  to  me,  but 
how  much  more  unto  thee,  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord,  i.  e.,  as 
being  of  thy  family  and  of  thy  faith.  If  thou  count  me  therefore  a 
partner  in  thy  friendship,  receive  him  as  myself.  If  he  have  wronged 
thee  in  anything,  or  oweth  thee  aught,  put  that  on  mine  account :  I 
Paul  have  written  it  with  mine  own  hand,  and  so  have  entered  into 
a  solemn  obligation  that  I  will  repay  it :  albeit  I  do  not  say  to  thee, 
i.  e.,  insist  upon  it,  how  thou  owest  unto  me,  by  whom  thou  wast 
converted,  even  thine  own  self,  or  the  well-being  of  thy  soul,  be 
sides."—  Whitby. 

"By  all  these  considerations  I  beseech  thee  for  my  son,  whom  I 
begat  in  my  bonds,  and  who  on  that  account  is  very  dear  to  me,  even 
Onesimus,  whom  I  acknowledge,  formerly  was  to  thee  an  unprofit 
able  slave,  but  now  having  embraced  the  Gospel,  he  will,  by  his  faith 
ful,  affectionate  services,  be  very  profitable  to  thee,  even  as  he  has 
been  to  me  since  his  conversion.  Him  I  have  sent  back  to  thee  by 
his  own  desire.  Do  thou  therefore  receive  him  into  thy  family  ;  that 
is  to  say,  receive  one  who  is  mine  own  bowels,  my  son,  a  part  of  me. 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  37 

the  expression,  without  giving  to  the  same  word  dif 
ferent  senses,  as  it  stands  connected  with  different 
parts  of  the  same  sentence :  "  to  thee,"  and  "  to  me." 


Being  so  useful  to  me,  I  wish  to  detain  him  with  myself,  that,  in  thy 
stead,  he  might  have  performed  those  offices  to  me  in  these  bonds  of 
the  Gospel,  which  thou  thyself  wouldst  have  performed  if  thou  hadst 
been  at  Rome.  But,  whatever  title  I  had  to  his  services,  on  account 
of  what  thou  owest  to  me  as  an  Apostle  of  Christ  suffering  for  he 
Gospel,  without  knowing  thy  mind,  whose  slave  he  is,  I  would  do 
nothing  to  encourage  him  to  stay  with  me ;  that  thy  good  deed  in 
pardoning  him  might  not  be  as  extorted,  but  as  proceeding  from  thine 
own  good  will.  To  mitigate  thy  resentment,  consider,  that  perhaps 
also  for  this  reason  he  was  separated  from  thee  for  a  little  while,  that 
thou  mightest  have  him  thy  slave  for  life ;  no  longer  as  a  slave  only 
but  above  a  slave  ;  even  a  beloved  Christian  brother ;  especially  to 
me  who  know  his  worth,  and  have  been  indebted  to  him  for  his 
services.  How  much  more  to  thee,  as  a  brother,  both  by  nation  and 
by  religion,  who  will  serve  thee  with  more  understanding,  fidelity, 
and  affection,  than  before?  If  thou  then  hold  me  as  a  partaker  of 
thy  affection,  give  him  the  same  reception  which  thou  wouldst  give 
to  myself.  And  if  he  hath  injured  thee  anything  by  running  away, 
or  oweth  thee  in  the  way  of  borrowing,  place  it  all  to  my  account. 
And  to  entitle  thee  to  payment,  I  Paul  have  written  it  with  mine 
own  hand,  I  will  repay  thee  all.  This  I  have  done,  that  in  urging 
thee  to  pardon  Onesimus  I  may  not  say  to  thee,  thou  owest  me  even 
thine  own  self  besides." — McKnight. 

"  I  entreat  thee  concerning  a  certain  son  of  mine,  whom  I  have 
begotten  to  Christ  in  my  bonds;  and  whom  I  hope  thou  wilt,  upon 
that  account,  be  inclined  to  favor,  knowing  how  dear  he  must  be  to 
me,  considered  as  a  soui  which  God  hath  given  me  at  such  a  sea- 


38  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

(a) — As  his  spiritual  father,  and  instructor  in 
Christian  duty,  I  have  sent  him  ~back  to  thee.  Of  the 
word  anapempo,  here  rendered  "  sent  again,"  Kobin- 

son  as  this.  And  it  is  no  other  than  thy  servant  Onesimus ;  who 
indeed,  if  I  may  so  allude  to  his  name,  did  not  formerly  answer  to 
it,"  (Onesimus,  signifies  profit. — Note.)  "  for  he  was  once  unprofitable 
to  thee,  negligent  of  thy  business,  and  so  conscious  of  thy  displeasure 
that  he  fled  from  it.  But  he  now  is,  and  I  trust  will  be,  profitable 
both  to  thee  and  to  me,  so  as  daily  to  give  increasing  satisfaction  to 
us  both  :  whom,  how  agreeable  and  useful  soever  he  might  have  been 
to  me  here,  I  have  sent  back  to  thee  again :  do  thou  therefore  receive 
him  with  readiness  and  affection.  Receive  him  did  I  say  ?  nay  rather 
receive,  as  it  were,  my  own  bowels ;  a  person  whom  I  so  tenderly 
love,  that  he  may  seem,  as  it  were,  to  carry  the  heart  of  Paul  along 
with  him  wherever  he  goes.  Whom  indeed  I  was  desirous  to  have 
kept  near  me,  that  he  might  have  officiated  for  thee,  and  in  thy  stead 
attended  upon  me  in  the  bonds  I  suffer  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel : 
for  I  do  thee,  0  Philemon,  the  justice  to  believe,  thou  wouldst  have 
found  a  pious  pleasure  in  every  ministration  of  this  kind,  if  thou  wert 
near  me.  But  I  would  do  nothing  in  this  affair  without  thy  express 
consent,  that  thy  benefit  might  not  seem  extorted  by  necessity,  but 
appear  a  voluntary  act.  I  therefore  return  him  to  thee  by  the  first 
opportunity  ;  for  perhaps  he  was  separated  from  thee  for  a  while,  by 
the  permission  of  Providence  to  this  very  end,  that  thou  mightest 
receive  him  and  enjoy  him  for  ever ;  that  he  might  not  only  be  dear 
and  useful  to  thee,  during  all  the  remainder  of  his  life,  as  a  servant, 
whose  ear,  is  as  it  were,  bored  to  the  door  of  thine  house,  (to  allude 
to  the  Hebrew  custom,  Ex.  XXI.  6,)  but  that  he  might  indeed  be  a 
source  of  eternal  delight  to  thee,  in  that  infinitely  better  world, 
where  all  distinctions  between  masters  and  their  slaves  shall  ceabe, 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  39 

son  gives  this  definition  :  "  1.  To  send  up  before  a 
Jiigher  tribunal,  to  remit. — Luke  XXIII.  7,  15.  2. 
To  send  back  again. — Luke  XXIII.  11 ;  Philemon 
11."  "  As  soon  as  he  (Pilate)  knew  that  he  (Jesus) 
belonged  to  Herod's  jurisdiction,  he  sent  him  to 
Herod.  For  I  (Pilate)  sent  you  to  him  (Herod) ;  and 
lo,  nothing  worthy  of  death  is  done  unto  him." — 


even  that  world  of  complete  liberty  and  everlasting  friendship.  In 
the  mean  time,  receive  him  not  now  as  a  fugitive  slave,  to  be  long 
frowned  upon,  and  kept  at  a  distance,  for  his  former  faults  ;  nor  treat 
him  merely  as  a  common  servant,  but  as  above  a  servant,  as  standing 
in  another,  a  much  more  dear  and  honorable  relation,  a  beloved 
brother,  especially  to  me,  as  having  been  for  some  time  a  very  use 
ful  attendant  upon  me  in  my  afflictions ;  but  how  much  more  so  to 
thee,  to  whom  he  belongs  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord,  as  thou 
hast  so  long  known  him,  and  wilt  have  the  pleasure  of  discerning 
more  particularly  how  happy  a  change  Christianity  hath  made  in  his 
temper  and  character  ?  If  therefore,  thou  esteem  me  as  a  friend  and 
a  companion  in  Christ,  I  beseech  thee  to  receive  him  as  thou  wouldst 
myself,  if  I  could  have  the  satisfaction  of  making  thee  a  visit  in  per 
son.  If  he  have  injured  thee  in  any  pecuniary  matter,  or  is  indebted 
to  thee  in  consequence  of  any  former  extravagances  and  follies,  (of 
which  divine  grace  hath,  now,  I  hope,  made  him  truly  sensible,)  as 
far  as  it  has  been  the  case,  charge  it  to  my  account.  I  Paul  have 
written  it  with  my  own  hand,  and  do  hereby,  as  it  were,  give  thee 
legal  security  for  it.  I  will  pay  it  again  upon  demand,  as  far  as  my 
little  substance  will  go.  Not  to  say  to  thee  thus,  as  I  was  the  happy 
instrument  of  thy  conversion  to  Christ,  thou  owest  even  thine  own 
self  to  me." — Doddridge. 


40  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE  OF  SLAVERY. 

Luke  XXIII.  7,  15.  «  And  (Herod)  sent  him  (Jesus) 
again  to  Pilate."— Luke  XXIII.  11.  New  Testa 
ment  usage,  then,  requires  us  to  understand  Paul, 
when  he  says,  "  I  have  sent  again,"  to  mean,  that  he 
had  used  some  authority  in  returning  Onesimus  to 
his  master.  And  as  an  Apostle  indignantly  repels  the 
idea  of  acting  "  as  a  Lord  in  God's  heritage,"  the 
only  consistent  interpretation  of  the  expression  is  that 
presented  in  the  paraphrase,  "  As  his  spiritual  father 
and  instructor  in  Christian  duty." 

(3) — I  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind  without  thine 
express  consent.  When  Paul  writes,  "  But  without 
thy  mind  would  I  do  nothing,"  we  must  understand 
him  as  referring  to  what  he  has  written  in  the  verse 
preceding. 

(4) — Shouldest  receive  him  again  for  life.  For  this 
use  of  the  expression  (aionios)  "for  ever"  as  applied 
to  slaves,  see  Sep.  Ex.  XXI.  5,  6  :— "  And  if  the  ser 
vant  shall  plainly  say,  I  love  my  master,  my  wife, 
and  my  children ;  I  will  not  go  out  free ;  then  his 
master  shall  bring  him  unto  the  judges  :  he  shall  also 
bring  him  unto  the  door,  or  unto  the  door-post :  and 
his  master  shall  bore  his  ear  through  with  an  awl ; 
and  he  shall  serve  him  for  ever"  See  also  Deut. 
XY.  17 ;  Lev.  XXY.  46. 

^)—Not  as  a  fugitive  slave.  So  Doddridge  para 
phrases  the  clause,  and  we  think,  correctly ;  since 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  41 

Paul  is  here  speaking  immediately  of  Onesimus' 
reception  by  his  master,  and  not  of  his  subsequent 
relation  to  him.  And  we  know,  from  other  sources, 
that  the  treatment  commonly  received  by  returned 
fugitives  was  very  severe. 

(6) — Hath  wronged  thee  in  running  away.  "  Many 
are  of  opinion  that  Onesimus  robbed  his  master  before 
he  ran  off.  But  of  this  there  is  no  evidence ;  unless 
we  think  the  expression,  ver.  18,  l  If  he  have  injured 
thee  in  any  thing  J  contain  an  insinuation  of  this  sort. 
But  the  Apostle  might  mean,  injured  thee  by  the  loss 
of  his  services.  The  words  will  fairly  bear  this  inter 
pretation.  Why  then,  as  Lardner  observes,  impute 
crimes  to  men  without  proof?" — M^KnigMs  Int.  to 
Phil.  "  From  these  words,  many  infer  that  Onesi 
mus  had  been  guilty  of  robbery  as  well  as  desertion. 
But  the  recent  commentators  seem  right  in  thinking 
that  the  terms  will  scarcely  authorize  us  to  suppose 
this.  Adikase  may  apply  to  the  having  wronged  his 
master  by  depriving  him  of  his  services  during  his 
absence,  or  perhaps  by  idleness  before." — Bloom- 
N.  T. 


42  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 


REMARKS. 

First. — In  his  preface  to  this  Epistle  to  Philemon, 
M'Knight  writes : — "  What  the  Apostle  wrote  to 
Philemon  on  this  occasion  is  highly  worthy  of  our 
notice  :  namely,  that  although  he  had  great  need  of 
an  affectionate  and  honest  servant  to  minister  to 
him  in  his  bonds,  such  as  Onesimus  was,  who  had 
expressed  a  great  inclination  to  stay  with  him  ;  and 
although  if  Onesimus  had  remained  with  him,  he 
would  only  have  discharged  the  duty  which  Phile 
mon  himself  owed  to  his  spiritual  father,  yet  the 
Apostle  will  by  no  means  detain  Onesimus  without 
Philemon's  leave,  because  it  belonged  to  him  to  dispose 
of  his  own  slave  in  the  way  he  thought  proper.  (See 
also  the  Paraphrases  of  Whitby  and  Doddridge  on 
this  point.)  Such  was  the  Apostle's  regard  to  justice 
and  the  rights  of  mankind."  And  subsequently, 
when  setting  forth  the  uses  to  be  made  of  this  epistle, 
he  writes  : — "  Christianity  makes  no  alteration  in 
men's  political  state.  Onesimus,  the  slave,  did  not 
become  a  freeman  by  embracing  Christianity,  but 
was  still  obliged  to  be  Philemon's  slave  for  ever, 
unless  his  master  gave  him  his  freedom.  Slaves 
should  not  be  taken,  nor  detained  from  their  masters, 
without  their  masters  consent"  (See  Paraphrases  of 
Whitby  and  Doddridge  on  this  point  also.) 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE.  43 

Second. — Dr.  Barnes,  in  his  notes  on  the  expression, 
"  whom  I  have  sent  again,"  (ver.  12,)  makes  four 
remarks,  to  which  we  will  briefly  turn  the  reader's 
attention. 

1.  "There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  he 
(Paul)  compelled  him  (Onesimus),  or  even  urged  him 
to  go.  The  language  is  just  such  as  would  have 
been  used  on  the  supposition  either  that  he  requested 
him  to  go  and  bear  a  letter  to  Colosse,  or  that  Onesi 
mus  desired  to  go,  and  that  Paul  sent  him  agreeably 
to  his  request.  Comp.  Phil.  II.  25.  cYet  I  sup 
posed  it  necessary  to  send  to  you  Epaphroditus,  my 
brother  and  companion  in  labor.' — Col.  IY.  7,  8. 
{ All  my  state  shall  Tychicus  declare  unto  you,  who 
is  a  beloved  brother,  and  a  faithful  minister  and 
fellow-servant  in  the  Lord :  whom  I  have  sent  unto 
you.'  But  Epaphroditus  and  Tychicus  were  not  sent 
against  their  own  will,  nor  is  there  any  more  reason 
to  think  that  Onesimus  was." — Barnes''  Notes. 

"Not  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  the  Greek  words 
translated  sent  in  Phil.  II.  25,  and  Col.  IY.  7,  are  not 
the  same  with  that  used  in  Philemon,  12,  and  there 
fore  cannot  properly  be  appealed  to  in  interpreting 
that  word :  We  remark,  in  these  instances,  Epaphro 
ditus  and  Tychicus  were  sent  by  Paul,  the  one  to 
Philippi,  the  other  to  Colosse — in  virtue  of  his  Apos 
tolic  authority,  as  all  commentators  are  agreed.  Not 


44  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

against  their  will,  if  they  were  worthy  Christian 
ministers,  taught  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  submit 
themselves  to  one  set  over  them  in  the  Lord ;  yet 
not,  on  that  account,  the  less  sent  by  Paul  the 
Apostle,  in  virtue  of  that  authority  which  Christ 
had  conferred  upon  him  in  calling  him  to  the 
Apostleship. 

2.  "  Paul  had  no  power  to  send  Onesimus  back  to 
his  master,  unless  he  chose  to  go.     He  had  no  civil 
authority ;  he  had  no  guard  to  accompany  him ;  he 
could  intrust  him  to  no  sheriff  to  convey  him  from 
place  to  place,  and  he  had  no  means  of  controlling 
him,   if  he   chose   to   go   to   any  other  place  than 
Colosse.     He  could  indeed  have  sent  him  away  from 
himself,"  (qy.  1st,  How  could  he  have  sent  him,  see 
ing  he  had  no  civil  authority,  guard  or  sheriff,  to 
convey  him?    2d,   Could  he  not  have  sent  him  to 
Colosse  in  the  same  way?)  "  he  could  have  told  him 
to  go  to  Colosse ;  but  there  his  power  ended.     One 
simus  then  could  have  gone  where  he  pleased.     But 
there  is  no  evidence  that  Paul  even  told  him  to  go  to 
Colosse  against  his  own  inclination,  or  that  he  would 
have  sent  him  away  at  all,  unless  he  had  himself 
requested  it." — JBarnes1  Notes. 

The  quibble  involved  in  this  note  of  Dr.  B.  is  so 
evident  as  to  need  no  comment  from  us. 

3.  "There   may  have   been   many  reasons   why 


^    or  THE 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  45 


Onesimus  desired  to  return  to  Colosse,  and  no  one 
can  prove  that  lie  did  not  express  that  desire  to  Paul, 
and  that  his  sending  him  was  not  in  consequence  of 
such  request.  He  may  have  been  poor  and  a  stran 
ger  in  Eome,  and  may  have  been  greatly  disap 
pointed  in  what  he  had  expected  to  find  there  when 
he  left  Philemon,  and  may  have  desired  to  return  to 
the  comparative  comforts  of  his  former  condition."  — 
Barnes^  Notes. 

If  this  reason  for  Onesimus'  return  be  admitted  to 
be  the  true  one,  we  remark,  the  whole  transaction 
does  very  little  credit  either  to  him  or  to  Paul  as 
Christian  men.  The  case,  as  Dr.  "B.  presents  it,  is 
that  of  a  man  who,  before  his  conversion,  has  over 
reached  himself  in  attempting  to  over-reach  a  Christ 
ian  brother;  and  who,  after  his  conversion,  takes 
advantage  of  his  Christian  profession  to  throw  the 
bad  bargain  upon  the  hands  of  the  Christian  brother 
whom  he  had  attempted  to  wrong.  Dr.  B.  may 
believe  this  of  an  Apostle  of  Jesus,  if  he  can  ;  for 
ourselves,  we  have  far  too  much  respect  (to  use  no 
stronger  term)  for  the  memory  both  of  Paul  and  his 
convert  Onesimus  to  admit  any  such  explanation  of 
their  conduct  as  this. 

4.  "  It  may  be  added,  therefore,  that  this  passage 
should  not  be  adduced  to  justify  any  sort  of  influence 
over  a  run-away  slave  to  induce  him  to  return  to  his 


46  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

former  master.  There  is  not  the  least  evidence  that 
this  occurred  in  the  case  before  us.  If  this  instance 
is  ever  appealed  to,  it  should  be  to  justify  what 
Paul  did — and.  nothing  else" — Barnes9  Notes. 

If  Paul  did  not  "  use  any  sort  of  influence  over 
Onesimus  to  induce  him  to  return  to  his  former 
master,"  what  does  he  mean  by  writing  "whom  I 
have  sent  again?"  Even  giving  the  word  the  most 
limited  signification  possible,  it  would  certainly 
imply  the  use  of  some  sort  of  influence.  Dr.  J3. 
occasionally  has  fugitive  slaves  come  to  him,  (see 
"  Scriptural  Yiews  of  Slavery,"  p.  324),  and  of  late 
years,  he  never  "  uses  any  sort  of -influence  to  induce 
them  to  return  to  their  former  masters."  Supposing 
I  should  publish  the  statement — Dr.  Barnes  sends 
back  to  his  master  every  fugitive  slave  that  comes 
to  him — would  not  Dr.  B.  cry  out  upon  me  as  a 
slanderer  ? 

But,  writes  Dr.  B. :  "  There  is  no  certain  evidence" 
that  Onesimus  was  ever  a  slave  at  all." — Notes  on 
ver.  16.  "  All  that  is  stated  of  him  in  this  epistle, 
would  be  met  by  the  supposition  that  he  was  bound 
to  Philemon,  either  by  his  parents  or  guardians.  It 
is  perhaps  quite  as  common  for  apprentices  to  run 
away,  as  it  is  for  slaves" — Barnes'  Int.  to  Philemon. 

We  are  surprised  that  Dr.  B.,  having  made  such  a 
pregnant  discovery  as  this,  makes  so  little  use  of  it 


APOSTOLIC    EXAMPLE. 


in  his  after  labors  upon  this  epistle.  Had  he  turned 
to  Acts  XYIII.  3,  he  might  have  read  —  "And 
because  he  (Paul)  was  of  the  same  craft,  he  abode 
with  them  (Priscilla  and  Aquila)  and  wrought,  for 
by  their  occupation  they  were  tent-makers"  E"ow, 
Philemon  "  may"  have  been  a  tent-maker  also.  "No 
one  can  prove  that  he  was  not"  And  Paul,  when  he 
addresses  him  as  his  "  fellow-worker  (sunergos)"  ver. 
1,  "may"  have  meant  fellow-worker  at  the  tent- 
making  business.  And  when  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  Philemon's  "  partner,"  ver.  17,  he  "  may  "  have 
meant  his  partner  in  the  tent-making  business. 
"No  one  can  prove  that  he  was  not"  And  One- 
simus,  as  Dr.  B.  suggests,  "  may  "  have  been  a  mere 
apprentice,  bound  by  his  father  or  guardian  to  Phile 
mon  and  Paul,  tent-makers.  "No  one  can  prove 
that  he  was  not"  And  then  :  the  whole  transaction 
appears  in  an  entirely  new  light.  And  no  one  will 
have  a  right  to  infer  any  thing  at  all  respecting 
fugitive  slaves,  from  this  epistle  to  Philemon. 

Should  Dr.  B.  feel  inclined  to  consider  this  inter 
pretation,  with  an  eye  to  a  future  edition  of  his  Notes, 
we  would  suggest  — 

1.  It  is  more  ingenious  —  not  to  say  ingenuous  — 
than  the  remark  that  Paul  could  not  have  sent  One- 
simus  to  Colosse,  because  he  had  "no  guard  or 
sheriff"  at  his  disposal. 


48  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

2.  It  is  far  less  derogatory  to  the  Christian  charac 
ter,  both  of  Paul  and  of  Onesimus,  than  the  reason 
Dr.  B.  assigns  in  his  note  3d  for  Onesimus'  return  to 
his  master. 

3.  It  can  be  supported  throughout  by  Dr.  B.'s  two 
favorite  arguments — "  It  may  have  been"  "  No  one 
can  prove  that  it  was  not  so  " — and  so,  will  form  a 
homogeneous  part  of  his  .Notes  on  Philemon. 

4.  It  disposes,  at  once,  of  the  whole  swarm  of  minor 
difficulties,  springing  up  from  every  part  of  this  epis 
tle,  which  seems  to  have  stung  Dr.  B.  to  temporary 
blindness.     But  enough  of  such  notes  as  these. 

An  ingenuous  interpretation  of  Paul's  words, 
"whom  I  have  sent  again"  will  make  them  convey 
the  idea,  that  Onesimus,  after  his  conversion  under 
Paul's  teaching,  "  becomes  sensible  of  his  fault  in 
running  away  from  his  master,  and  wishes  to  repair 
the  injury  by  returning  to  him." — McKnight.  And 
Paul,  taking  this  same  view  of  his  past  conduct  and 
present  duty,  directs  him  to  return.  "We  do  not  sup 
pose  that  Onesimus  returned  against  his  will,  any 
more  than  Zaccheus,  on  his  conversion,  made  restitu 
tion  of  what  he  had  before  taken  wrongfully,  (see 
Luke  XIX.  8,)  against  his  will.  In  both  instances 
alike,  the  Holy  Spirit  made  the  convert  willing  to 
repair  any  and  every  wrong  done  before  conversion. 


UFMfVEr 


APOSTOLIC   EXAMPLE.  49 

But  that  Paul,  as  his  instructor  in  Christian  truth 
and  duty,  directed  Onesimus  to  return  to  his  former 
master,  is  clearly  implied  in  his  words — "  whom  I 
have  sent  again." 


CHAPTER    III. 

APOSTOLIC     PRECEPT. 

"  WHEN  he,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come,  he  will 
"guide  you  into  all  truth."— Jno.  XYI.  13. 

§  9.  THE  APOSTLES  REPEATEDLY  ENJOIN  THE  RELATIVE 
DUTIES  OF  MASTERS  AND  SLAVES,  AND  ENFORCE 
THEIR  INJUNCTIONS  UPON  BOTH  ALIKE,  AS  CHRIS 
TIAN  MEN,  BY  CHRISTIAN  MOTIVES  ;  UNIFORMLY 
TREATING  THE  EviLS  WHICH  THEY  SOUGHT  TO  COR 
RECT  AS  INCIDENTAL  EviLS,  AND  NOT  PART  AND 

PARCEL  OF  SLAVERY  ITSELF. 

PEOOF.— Eph.  VI.  5-9 ;  Col.  III.  22-25,  IV.  1 ; 
1  Tim.  VI.  1,  2  ;  Titus  II.  9,  10 ;  1  Pet.  II.  18,  19. 

EPH.  VI.  5-9. 

"  Servants  (douloi)  be  obedient  to  those  that  are 
"  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and 
"  trembling,  in  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto 


APOSTOLIC   PEECEPT.  51 

"  Christ ;  not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but 
"  as  the  servants  (douloi)  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of 
"  God  from  the  heart ;  with  good-will  doing  service, 
"  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men :  knowing  that  what- 
"  soever  good  thing  any  man  doeth,  the  same  shall 
"  he  receive  of  tile  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or 
"  free." 

"  And  ye  masters,  do  the  same  things  unto  them, 
"  forbearing  threatening  :  knowing  that  your  master 
"  also  is  in  heaven  ;  neither  is  there  respect  of  per- 
"  sons  with  him." 


COL.  III.  22-25  ;  IY.  1. 

"  Servants  (douloi)  obey  in  all  things  your  masters 
"  according  to  the  flesh ;  not  with  eye-service,  as 
"  men-pleasers  ;  but  in  singleness  of  heart,  fearing 
"  God ;  and  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as  to 
"  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men ;  knowing  that  of  the 
"  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance  : 
"  for  ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ.  But  he  that  doeth 
"  wrong,  shall  receive  for  the  wrong  which  he  hath 
"  done  ;  and  there  is  no  respect  of  persons." 

"Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  (douloi)  that 
"  which  is  just  and  equal ;  knowing  that  ye  also  have 
"  a  master  in  heaven." 


52  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 


1  TIM.  VI.  1,  2. 

"  Let  as  many  servants  (douloi)  as  are  under  the 
"  yoke  count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honor, 
"  that  the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not  blas- 
"  pheined.  And  they  that  have  believing  masters, 
"  let  them  not  despise  them,  because  they  are  breth- 
"  ren  ;  but  rather  do  them  service,  because  they  are 
"  faithful  and  beloved,  partakers  of  the  benefit." 

TITUS  II.  9,  10. 

"  Exhort  servants  (douloi)  to  be  obedient  to  their 
"  own  masters,  and  to  please  them  well  in  all  things  ; 
"  not  answering  again,  not  purloining,  but  showing  all 
"  good  fidelity ;  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of 
"  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things." 

PETER  II.  18,  19. 

"Servants  (piketaif  be  subject  to  your  masters 
"  with  all  fear ;  not  only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  but 
"  also  to  the  froward ;  for  this  is  thankworthy,  if  a 

*  "  Oiketas.  In  the  N.  T.  a  domestic,  a  servant.  Luke  XVI.  13  ; 
Acts  X.  7  ;  Rom.  XIV.  4."— Robinson's  N.  T.  Lexicon. 

"  Strictly,  an  inmate  of  one's  house  :  but  most  usually,  a  house- 
slave,  menial" — Liddell  and  Scott. 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  53 

"  man  for  conscience  toward  God  endure  grief,  suffer- 
"  ing  wrongfully." 

Instead  of  giving  the  reader  a  paraphrase  of  these 
several  passages — and  their  meaning,  in  so  far  as  it 
bears  upon  the  point  now  under  consideration,  is  so 
obvious  as  to  render  a  paraphrase  unnecessary — we 
give  an  admirable  summary  of  the  instruction  they 
contain,  in  the  words  of  Bishop  Wilson  : 

"  If  the  deepest  student  of  Christian  morals  were 
to  endeavor  to  point  out  the  especial  dangers  to  which 
servants  are  exposed,  he  could  mention  none  so  pro 
minent  as  those  named  by  our  inspired  Apostle.  The 
experience  of  all  ages  agrees  upon  these  matters. 
Eye-servants  who  watch  the  absence  of  their  masters 
for  indolence  or  negligence;  pert  and  froward  ser 
vants,  who  answer  disrespectfully  when  rebuked ; 
dishonest  servants,  who,  instead  of  guarding  their 
master's  house,  food,  provisions,  stores,  gardens,  fur 
niture,  property,  'with  all  good  fidelity,'  'purloin,' 
and  give  away  to  their  companions  whatever  they 
can  ;  ill-instructed  religious  servants,  who  take  liber 
ties  with  their  masters,  if  they  are  pious  and  devout 
persons ;  lastly,  hypocritical  and  disputatious  servants, 
who  abuse  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
dote  about  abstruse  questions,  which  they  cannot 
understand,  and  which  do  not  concern  their  prac- 


54:  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

tical  duties  ;  these  are  allowed  by  all  to  be  the  most 
unprofitable  and  disgraceful  to  the  Gospel  they  pro 
fess,  of  all  kinds  of  persons  in  stations  of  dependence. 
"  How  precisely  adapted  to  the  dangers  to  which 
masters  are  exposed  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties  to  their  inferiors,"  are  the  instructions  ad 
dressed  to  them.  "  They  are  to  give  to  their  servants 
or  slaves  <  that  which  is  just  and  equal ;'  that  measure 
of  support  and  recompense  for  their  labors,  which 
their  contract  with  them  or  the  natural  laws  of  God 
require ;  that  care  of  them  in  sickness  ;  that  provision 
in  old  age ;  that  proportional  reward  for  extraordi 
nary  fidelity  and  exertions ;  in  a  word,  all  that  con 
siderate,  reasonable,  and  affectionate  attention,  which 
they,  in  like  circumstances,  would  wish  their  servants 
to  render  to  them  ;  l  forbearing  threatening,'  and 
remembering  that  they  also  have  a  master  in  heaven ; 
and  exercising,  therefore,  their  authority  with  hu 
manity  and  gentleness,  not  only  without  inflicting 
rigorous  punishment,  as  it  was  too  common  for  mas 
ters  to  do,  but  also  forbearing  to  menace  and  terrify 
their  servants,  or  to  express  any  haughty  or  excessive 
anger  at  them  even  when  faulty.  For  though  the 
law  of  man  might  give  them  great  power,  yet  they 
were  accountable  to  the  great  Lord  and  Master  of  all 
for  their  use  of  it ;  who  would  deal  with  them  accord 
ing  to  their  conduct  to  their  inferiors,  as  well  as 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  55 

others ;  and  who  expects  his  people  to  copy  the  ex 
ample  of  his  own  divine  mercy  and  leniency. 

"  The  wisdom  of  the  inspired  Apostle  in  these 
directions  is  most  observable.  He  enters  not  ab 
stractedly  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  world,  but  requires  implicit  obedience 
from  servants  to  their  masters ;  enjoining,  at  the 
same  time,  on  the  masters  equity  and  mildness,  and 
not  the  absolute  manumission  of  their  slaves.  It  was 
by  working  in  this  unobtrusive  way — in  making 
good  husbands,  good  wives,  good  children,  good  ser- 
servants,  good  magistrates,  good  rulers,  good  sover 
eigns — that  Christianity  was  to  produce  its  stupen 
dous  effects."—-^?.  Wilson  on  Col.,  pp.  340,  343. 


REMARKS. 

FIRST. — In  his  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colos- 
sians,  Paul  treats  of  the  relative  duties  of  master  and 
slave  in  immediate  connection  with  those  of  husband 
and  wife,  parent  and  child ;  in  his  Epistle  to  Titus, 
in  very  much  the  same  connection,  with  the  addition 
of  rulers  and  subjects.  And  Peter  treats  of  these 
duties  in  connection  with  those  of  husbands  and 
wives,  rulers  and  subjects.  And  let  the  reader 
remark,  that  in  form,  at  least,  Paul  and  Peter  treat 
them  all  in  the  sarn^  way. 


56  THE   CHKISTIAN   DOCTBINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

In  the  Apostles'  days,  all  these  relations  were 
greatly  abused.  The  civil  government  under  which 
they  lived,  and  labored,  and  preached,  and  wrote, 
was  a  despotic  government,  and  in  its  actual  admi 
nistration  oppressive,  and  often  exceedingly  corrupt. 
Nero  was  emperor  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
Paul's  ministry,  and  many  of  his  epistles  were 
written  from  a  Roman  prison,  into  which  he  had 
been  unrighteously  cast.  Throughout  the  Roman 
empire,  the  wife,  the  child,  and  the  slave  were,  in 
law  as  well  as  in  fact,  on  very  nearly  the  same  level.* 
The  Apostles  found  incidental  evils,  many  and  great, 
attaching  to  all  those  relations  of  life,  and  these  were 
sanctioned  by  law. 

*  The  condition  of  the  Child. — "  A  father,  under  the  Roman  law 
had  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  his  children.  He  could  not  only 
expose  them  when  infants,  which  cruel  custom  prevailed  at  Rome  for 
many  ages,  as  among  other  nations,  but  even  when  his  children  were 

V 

grown  up,  he  might  imprison,  scourge,  send  them  bound  into  the 
country,  and  also  put  them  to  death  by  any  punishment  he  pleased." 
— "  A  son  could  acquire  no  property  but  with  the  father's  consent ; 
and  what  he  did  thus  acquire  was  called  his  peculium,  as  that  of  a 
slave.  The  condition  of  a  son  was  in  some  respects  harder  than  that 
of  a  slave.  None  of  them  became  their  own  masters  till  the  death  of 
their  father  and  grandfather." — Adwrfs  Rom.  Ant.  p.  60. 

The  condition  of  the  Wife. — "  A  daughter  by  marriage  passed  from 
the  power  of  her  father  under  that  of  her  husband. — "  The  woman 
was  to  the  husband  in  the  place  of  a  daughter,  and  he  to  her  as  a 
father." — Adam's  Rom.  Ant.,  pp.  60,  441. 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  57 

Called,  in  such  circumstances,  to  preach  the  Gos 
pel,  and  to  teach  mankind  righteousness,  they  did 
not  shut  their  eyes  to  the  abuses  of  these  several 
institutions — civil  government,  marriage,  the  family, 
slavery  ;  nor  do  they  affect  an  ignorance  of  them,  but 
carefully  distinguishing  between  the  institutions  them 
selves  and  the  abuses  which  had  become  attached  to 
them,  they  set  themselves  to  work  with  zeal  and 
faithfulness — faithfulness  at  once  to  God  and  to  man 
— to  correct  the  abuses. 

"With  civil  government,  marriage,  the  family,  and 
slavery  they  dealt  in  the  same  way*  All  that  was 
sinful,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  in  each,  as  then 
actually  existing,  they  clearly  and  unequivocally 
condemn ;  and  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  by 
their  authority  as  Apostles,  and  in  the  world  at 
large,  through  the  influence  of  their  teaching  and 
example,  they  labored  to  remove.  But  they  touch  not 
the  institutions  themselves.  They  require  subjects 
"  to  submit  themselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for 
the  Lord's  sake ;  whether  it  be  to  the  king,  as  su 
preme,  or  unto  governors,  as  unto  them  that  are  sent 
by  4iim  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers  and  for  the 
praise  of  them  that  do  well."  "  Wives  to  submit 
themselves  to  their  own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord," 
and  husbands  "  to  love  their  wives,  even  as  Christ 
loved  the  Church  and.gave  himself  for  it."  Children 

8* 


58  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 

"  to  obey  their  parents,"  and  parents  "  to  bring  up 
their  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord."  Slaves  "  to  be  obedient  to  those  who  were 
their  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  in  singleness  of 
heart,  as  unto  Christ,"  and  masters  "  to  give  unto 
their  servants  that  which  was  just  and  equal,  know 
ing  that  they  also  had  a  master  in  heaven."  Thus 
they  sought  to  make  good  subjects,  good  wives,  good 
husbands,  good  children,  good  parents,  good  slaves, 
good  masters ;  good,  in  the  Bible  sense  of  the  word 
good — that  is,  discharging  all  the  duties  growing 
out  of  their  several  relations  as  men  and  as  Christ 
ians. 

The  condition  of  the  wife  in  this  our  Christian 
land  is  not  now  what  it  was  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  both  in  law  and  in  fact,  at  the  time  Christ 
ianity  was  first  preached  among  men.  And  it  would 
be  easy  to  show  that  Christianity,  applied  to  human 
life  in  the  way  in  which  the  Apostles  applied  it,  has 
wrought  this  change.  That  there  are  yet  incidental 
evils  attaching  to  the  marriage  relation  ;  that  the 
husband  often  abuses  the  authority  which  belongs  to 
him  as  a  husband,  and  that  these  abuses  are  sane-, 
tioned  by  the  laws  of  the  land — the  laws  respecting 
property,  for  example — no  one,  we  presume,  will 
deny.  That  the  industrious,  pains-taking  wife  should 
be  turned  out  of  "  house  and  home,"  and  stripped 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  59 

even  of  that,  which  she  has  herself  earned,  to  pay  the 
dehts  contracted  by  a  profligate  husband,  is  not  an 
unknown  event  in  any  of  our  States.  But  will  any 
God-fearing  man,  in  his  senses,  on  this  account, 
denounce  the  marriage  relation,  and  advocate  the 
doctrine  of  the  "  Free-lovers  ?" 

The  condition  of  the  child,  in  the  United  States,  is 
very  different  from  what  it  was  in  old  Rome ;  and 
Christianity  has  wrought  this  change.  And  yet,  in 
this  Christian  land,  in  spite  of  all  the  guards  which 
the  law  has  thrown  around  "  the  helplessness  of 
childhood,"  and  all  the  influence  of  the  Gospel,  direct 
and  indirect,  the  authority  of  the  father  is  often 
greatly  abused.  From  time  to  time  we  read  in  the 
papers  of  fathers  cruelly  beating,  starving,  and  even 
murdering  their  own  children ;  and  this  in  every 
part  of  the  land.  Shall  we  therefore  abolish  the 
authority  of  the  father,  and  introduce  socialism,  mak 
ing  children  the  immediate  care  of  the  community  ? 
Can  any  Christian  man  believe  that,  in  so  doing,  he 
would  be  doing  either  God  or  humanity  a  service  ? 

The  condition  of  the  slave^  in  our  country,  is  very 
different  from  what  it  was  throughout  the  Roman 
empire  in  Paul's  day.  And  this  change  also  is  one 
of  the  trophies  of  our  heaven-descended  Christianity. 
That  there  are  incidental  evils  yet  attaching  to  the 
institution,  both  in  law  and  in  fact,  all  will  admit — 


60  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

evils  which  Christianity,  working  in  God's  appointed 
way,  will  ere  long  remove,  we  firmly  believe.  It  has 
done  a  mighty  work  in  days  by-gone  ;  it  has  always 
worked  well.  All  that  has  ever  been  done  for  the 
slave  has  been  done  through  its  agency ;  and  we  are 
perfectly  willing  to  trust  it  for  the  future,  believing,  as 
we  do,  that  the  time  will  yet  come  when  all  men  will 
see  and  acknowledge  that  in  this,  as  in  other  matters, 
"  the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  man." 

SECOND. — Referring  to  the  Scriptural  injunctions 
addressed  to  slaves,  and  quoted  at  the  head  of  this 
section,  Dr.  Barnes  writes : — "  But  let  not  a  master 
think,  because  a  pious  slave  shows  this  spiri-t,  that 
therefore  the  slave  feels  that  the  master  is  right  in 
withholding  his  freedom ;  nor  let  him  suppose,  be 
cause  religion  requires  the  slave  to  be  submissive  and 
obedient,  that  therefore  it  approves  of  what  the  mas 
ter  does.  It  does  this  no  more  than  it  sanctions  the 
conduct  of  Nero  and  Mary,  because  religion  required 
the  martyrs  to  be  unresisting,  and  to  allow  themselves 
to  be  led  to  the  stake.  A  conscientious  slave  may 
find  happiness  in  submitting  to  God  and  doing  his 
will,  just  as  a  conscientious  martyr  may.  But 
this  does  not  sanction  the  wrong,  either  of  the 
slave-owner  or  the  persecutor." — Barnes*  Notes, 
EpL  VI.  71. 

Supposing  we  admit  the  correctness  of  this  view 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  61 

of  the  injunctions  addressed  to  slaves,  we  must  then 
interpret  the  corresponding  injunctions  addressed  to 
masters,  in  immediate  connection  with  these,  upon 
the  same  principles.  And  Paul's  words,  in  Eph.  YI.  9, 
Col.  IY.  1,  would  read  somewhat  in  this  way: — 
"  Saintly  and  faithful"  Nero,  impale,  crucify,  cast  to 
the  wild  beasts,  if  you  please,  the  disciples  of  Jesus : 
but  see  to  it,  as  you  must  answer  to  God  for  your 
conduct,  that  you  "  give  unto  them  that  which  is  just 
and  equal"  in  this  whole  matter.  And  you,  Bloody 
Mary,  kindle  the  fires  of  Smithfield  anew,  and  send 
your  brethren  in  Jesus  to  the  stake  ;  but,  "  beloved 
of  God,"  burn  these  holy  men  with  the  same  meek 
ness  and  single-eye  for  God's  glory  with  which  they 
submit  to  be  burned. 


§  10.     PAUL   DECLARES  THAT  HIS  DOCTRINE   RESPECTING 

THE  DUTIES  OF  SLAVES  AND  MASTERS  is  WHOLE 
SOME   DOCTRINE,    ACCORDING   TO    GODLINESS    AND 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 

PROOF.— 1  Tim.  VI.  1-3. 

"  Let  as  many  servants  (douloi)  as  are  under  the 
"  yoke  count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honor, 
<c  that  the  name  of  God  and  of  his  doctrine  be  not 


O2  THE   CE1RISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

"  blasphemed.  And  they  that  have  believing  masters. 
"  let  them  not  despise  them,  because  they  are  bre- 
"  thren ;  but  rather  do  them  service,  because  they 
"  are  faithful  and  beloved,  partakers  of  the  benefit, 
"  These  things  teach  and  exhort." 

3.  "  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  and  consent  not 
"  to  wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  the  Lord 
"  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  accord- 
"  ing  to  godliness,  he  is  proud,"  etc. 


PARAPHRASE  OF  YER.  3. — If  any  man  teach  that 
slaves  ought  not  to  count  even  unbelieving  masters 
worthy  of  all  honor,  and  to  render  to  believing  mas 
ters  the  more  cheerful  and  hearty  service  because 
they  are  believers,  he  teaches  what  is  at  variance 
with  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godliness  and 
wholesome  words,  even  the  expressed  will  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.(1}* 


*  "  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  and  consent  not  to  wholesome 
words,  even  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  (Matt.  XX.  27,  He 
that  would  be  first  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant,  or  servant 
of  all — Mark,  X.  44,)  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to  godli 
ness."—  Whitby. 

"If  any  one  teach  differently,  by  affirming  that,  under  the  Gospel, 
slaves  are  not  bound  to  serve  their  masters,  but  ought  to  be  set  free, 
and  does  not  consent  to  the  wholesome  commandments  which  are 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  63 

.Q — The  expressed  will  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  "  All  the  precepts  which  the  Apostles  de 
livered  by  inspiration  being  precepts  of  Christ,  there 
is  no  occasion  to  suppose  that  he  referred  to  some 
precepts  concerning  slaves,  which  Christ,  while  on 
earth,  delivered  to  his  Apostles,  and  which,  though 
not  recorded  by  the  Evangelists,  were  made  known 
to  Paul  by  revelation ;"  or,  to  understand  him  as 
referring  to  such  precepts  as  are  actually  recorded  in 
the  Gospels,  but  which  do  not  directly  refer  to  the 
case  under  consideration,  as  Whitby  has  done. 
Commissioned,  as  the  Apostles  were,  to  perfect  the 
organization  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  complete 
the  sacred  cannon,  and  guided  by  "  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus"  into  all  truth,  what  they  taught  may,  with 
strictest  propriety,  be  spoken  of  as  "  the  words  of  the 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ's,  and  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  which  in 
.ill  points  is  conformable  to  true  morality,  he  is,"  etc. — Me  Knight. 

"  These  things  which  I  have  been  mentioning,  take  care,  0  Timo 
thy,  to  teach  and  exhort  thine  hearers  always  to  maintain  a  due 
regard  to  them.  And  if  any  one  teach  otherwise,  if  he  attempt  to 
broach  principles  contrary  to  these  great  maxims,  and  attend  not  to 
such  sound  and  wholesome  words,  even  to  those  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  these  may  with  strict  propriety  be  called,  and  which 
express  the  doctrine  that  is  agreeable  and  subservient  to  the  great 
cause  of  practical  godliness,  which  it  is  the  declared  design  of  the 
Gospel  to  promote  in  the  world,  whatever  fair  show  of  simplicity  and 
humility  he  may  affect,  he  is  certainly  proud,"  etc. — Doddridge. 


64  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

Lord  Jesus  Christ."  This,  Paul  distinctly  asserts  in 
his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  :  "  If  any  man  think 
himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or  spiritual,  let  him  acknow 
ledge  that  the  things  that  I  write  unto  you  are  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord." — 1  Cor.  XIY.  37. 


REMARKS. 

Paul's  declaration  in  the  passage  under  examina 
tion,  refers  expressly  to  such  as  should  teach  false 
doctrine  respecting  the  duties  of  slaves  alone.  Yet, 
upon  fair  principles  of  interpretation,  it  must  be 
understood  to  include  those  also,  if  such  there  were, 
as  taught  false  doctrine  respecting  the  correlative 
duties  of  masters.  The  "  doctrine  which  is  according 
to  godliness,"  teaches  the  slave  to  serve  his  master 
with  singleness  of  heart;"  and  just  as  distinctly 
teaches  the  master  to  give  unto  the  slave  "  that  which 
is  just  and  equal."  Master  and  slave  are  alike  the 
creatures  of  God,  the  objects  of  his  care,  the  subjects 
of  his  government:  and  alike  responsible  to  him  for 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  belonging  to  their  several 
stations. 


APOSTOLIC   PRECEPT.  65 


§    11.    PAUL   TREATS  THE  DISTINCTIONS  WHICH   SLAVERY 
CREATES  AS  MATTERS  OF  YERY  LITTLE  IMPORTANCE 
*         IN    SO  FAR  AS    THE   INTERESTS  OF   THE    CHRISTIAN 
LlFE  ARE  CONCERNED.     ' 

PROOF.— Gal.  III.  28  ;  1  Cor.  XII.  13  ;  Col.  III. 
11 ;  1  Cor.  VII.  20,  21. 

GAL.  III.  28. 

"  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither 
"  bond  (doulos]  nor  free  (eleuthereos),  there  is  neither 
"  male  nor  female  ;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 

1.  COR.  XII.  13. 

"  For  by  one  Spirit  are  we  all  baptized  into  one 
"  body,  whether  we  be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we 
"  be  bond  (douloi)  or  free  (eleutheroi) ;  and  have  been 
"  all  made  to  drink  into  one  spirit." 

COL.  III.  11. 

"  Where  there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  circum- 
"  cision  nor  uncircumcision,  Barbarian,  Scythian, bond 
"  (doulos)  nor  free  (eleuthereos) :  but  Christ  is  all  and 
« in  all." 


66  •    THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

The  common  sentiment  of  these  passages  of  Scrip 
ture  is  well  expressed  by  Doddridge,  in  his  para 
phrase  of  the  last  quoted  :  "  Thus  you  will  indeed 
become  genuine  members  of  that  blessed  society 
where  there  is  no  distinction  between  men  of  differ 
ent  cations,  education,  or  rank  in  life  ;  where  neither 
is  any  man  rejected  for  being  a  Greek,  nor  accepted 
merely  for  being  a  Jew  ;  a  society  where  he  can 
claim  nothing  by  virtue  of  circumcision,  nor  lose  any 
thing  by  uncircumcision ;  where  no  Barbarians,  or 
even  Scythians,  are  treated  with  contempt  for  that 
want  of  learning  and  politeness  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  most  remote  nations ;  or  any  slave  trampled 
upon  as  unworthy  of  notice,  since  he  shares  with 
others  in  the  possession  of  that  inestimable  treasure, 
an  immortal  soul,  and  may  have  a  part  in  the  great 
Redeemer  of  souls  ;  nor  is  a  freeman  chiefly  esteemed 
or  regarded  upon  account  of  his  boasted  liberty,  but 
rather  in  proportion  to  his  subjugation  to  our  divine 
master :  for  this  is  the  great  bond  of  union  among 
them  all,  the  matter  of  their  boasting  and  their  joy, 
that  they  are  related  to  Christ,  who  is  acknowledged 
to  be  all  that  is  amiable  and  excellent,  and  who 
dwells  in  all  true  believers,  without  any  difference  on 
any  of  these  accounts." 


APOSTOLIC   PRECEPT.  67 


1  COR.  VII.  20,  21. 

"  17.  But  as  God  hath  distributed  to  every  man, 
"  as  the  Lord  hath  called  every  one,  so  let  him  walk. 
"  And  so  ordain  I  in  all  the  churches.  18.  Is  any 
"  man  called  being  circumcised  ?  let  him  not  become 
"  uncircumcised.  Is  any  called  in  tin  circumcision  ? 
"  let  him  not  be  circumcised.  19.  Circumcision  is 
"  nothing,  and  uncircumcision  is  nothing,  but  the 
"  keeping  of  the  commandments  of  God.  20.  Let 
"  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he 
"  was  called.  21.  Art  thou  called  being  a  servant  ? 
"  care  not  for  it ;  but  if  thou  mayest  be  made  free, 
"  use  it  rather." 

PARAPHRASE  OF  VER.  20,  21. — Since  Christ's  "  king 
dom  is  not  of  this  world,"  (Jno.  XVIII.  36,)  his  Gos 
pel  makes  no  alteration  in  a  man's  civil  relations  or 
political  state,  and  hence  I  ordain  in  all  the  churches 
that  Christian  men  remain  in  the  same  condition,  in 
so  far  as  these  are  concerned^)  in  which  the  Gospel 
finds  them.  Art  thou  called  of  God,  being  a  slave 
(doulos\  care  not  for  it,  as  though  it  could  affect 
thine  acceptance  with  God,  or  thine  acceptable  ser 
vice  of  him.  Yet  if  they  can  lawfully  be  made  free, 
as  a  general  rule£}  slaves  had  better  accept  their 


68  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTKINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

freedom ;  for  a  condition  of  slavery  is  not  one  to  be 
desired  on  its  own  account.* 

NOTES. Q — The  same  condition,  i.  e.,  the  same  civil 
relations  or  .political  state.  The  word  Jclaseis,  is  here, 

*  "  Let  every  man  abide  still  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  was 
called  to  the  faith,  not  thinking  himself  obliged  by  it  to  quit  his  call 
ing.  Art  thou  called  being  a  servant,  care  not  for  it :  but  if  thou 
mayest  lawfully  be  made  free,  use  it  rather." — Whitby. 

"  Since  the  Gospel  makes  no  alteration  in  men's  political  state,  let 
every  Christian  remain  in  the  same  political  state  in  which  he  was 
called.  Agreeably  to  this  rule,  wast  thou  called  being  a  bondman, 
be  not  thou  solicitous  to  be  made  free,  fancying  that  a  bondman  is 
less  the  object  of  God's  favor  than  a  freeman.  Yet  if  thou  canst  even 
be  made  free  by  any  lawful  method,  rather  obtain  thy  freedom." — 
Me  Knight, 

"As  for  other  matters,  be  not  excessively  concerned  about  them : 
but  in  whatever  calling,  that  is,  profession  or  circumstances,  any  one 
of  you  was  called,  in  that  let  him  continue :  affect  not  to  change 
without  the  clear  and  evident  leadings  of  Providence,  as  there  is 
generally  greater  reason  to  expect  comfort  and  usefulness  in  such  a 
calling  than  in  another.  And  I  may  apply  this  not  only  to  the  diffe 
rent  employments,  but  relations  in  life,  as  well  as  diversity  in  reli 
gious  professions.  Art  thou,  for  instance,  called  into  the  Church  of 
Christ,  being  in  the  low  rank,  not  only  of  a  hired  servant,  but  of  a 
slave  ?  do  not  so  much  regard  it  as  upon  that  account  to  make  thy 
life  uneasy  :  but  if  thou  canst,  without  any  sinful  method  of  obtaining 
it,  be  made  free,  choose  it  rather,  as  what  is  no  doubt  in  itself  eligible, 
yet  not  absolutely  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  a  good  man."- 
Doddridgc. 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  69 

evidently,  not  used  in  the  sense  of  "  calling,"  as  we 
understand  that  word  at  the  present  day,  and  as 
Doddridge  seems  to  have  understood  it ;  since  Paul's 
specifications  under  the  general  term  are,  circumcised 
and  uncircumcised,  bond  and  free.  Liddell  and  Scott 
give  this  definition — "  II.  in  Dion  H.  Jdaseis  and 
kaleseis,  are  the  Roman  classes,  which  word  he  de 
rives  there  from."  This  is  doubtless  the  sense  in  which 
Paul  uses  it  here ;  and  as  we  have  no  one  English 
word  which  corresponds  exactly  to  it,  we  have  para 
phrased  it,  "  civil  relations  or  political  state." 

(2) — As  a  general  rule.  That  Paul  does  not  mean 
here,  to  give  anything  more  than  general  advice,  is 
evident  from  the  language  he  uses,  "  use  it  rather," 
as  well  as  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  context.  There 
are  many  cases  in  which  the  advice  to  a  slave  to 
become  free  where  his  master  would  willingly  grant 
him  his  freedom,  would  be  neither  kind  nor  wise. 
Indeed,  the  greatest  practical  difficulties  which  the 
enlightened  Christian  citizen  encounters  in  attempt 
ing  to  solve  the  problem  of  emancipation,  are  such  as 
grow  out  of  the  obligation  to  act  with  a  righteous 
regard  to  the  subsequent  well-being  of  the  slave. 


TO  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 


REMARKS. 

First. — In  the  passage  under  examination,  Paul 
must  be  understood  as  speaking  in  his  character  of  a 
religious  teacher,  an  Apostle  of  Christ ;  and  hence, 
when  he  treats  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  as  a 
matter  of  very  little  importance,  we  must  understand 
him  to  mean,  of  very  little  importance  in  so  far  as  the 
duties  and  interests  of  the  Christian  life  are  concerned. 
In  other  words — a  man  can  be  as  good  a  Christian, 
and  can  as  acceptably  serve  God,  as  a  slave,  if  in 
God's  providence  the  Gospel  finds  him  a  slave,  as  he 
could  had  it  found  him  a  free  man.  Slavery  is  not 
only  not  the  great  impediment,  but  not  a  great  im 
pediment  in  the  way  of  the  spread  of  the  Gospel. 

A  practical  proof  of  this  is  afforded  in  the  case  of 
the  slaves  in  our  Southern  states, — although  there  is 
not  a  little  of  incidental  evil  attaching  to  slavery  as 
it  exists  among  us, — in  such  facts  as  these,  viz. : 

1.  A  larger  proportion  of  the  laboring  classes  be 
long  to  the  Christian  Church  in  the  Southern  than  in 
the  Northern  states  of  the  Union. 

2.  If  it  be  true,  as  alleged — and  we  believe  that  it 
is  true — that  the  piety  of  the  Christian  slaves  at  the 
South  is  of  a  lower,  less  intelligent  grade  than  that 
of  the  laborers  of  the  North,  we  have  at  the  South,  as 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  71 

an  offset  to  this,  an  almost  entire  exemption  from 
Universalism,  Spiritualism,  Mormoiiism,  and  the 
many  forms  of  baptized  infidelity,  which  number 
their  disciples  by  thousands  among  the  laboring 
classes  in  the  Free  States.  It  seems  but  fair,  too,  in 
taking  account  of  the  lower  grade  of  piety  prevailing 
among  our  Christian  slaves,  to  remember  that  those 
slaves  are,  many  of  them,  but  a  very  few  generations 
removed  from  heathenism  in  its  most  debasing, 
degrading  form ;  and  all  history  testifies  that  a 
degradation  which  has  been  going  on  through  ages 
can  be  only  gradually  overcome. 

Second. — When  Paul  writes, — "  If  thou  mayest  be 
made  free,  use  it  rather,"  we  must  understand  him 
as  giving  this  direction  with  especial  reference  to  the 
state  of  things  existing  in  Greece  at  the  time  he 
wrote  this  epistle  to  the  Church  at  Corinth.  This  is 
a  sound  rule  of  interpretation  in  all  cases  of  this  kind, 
and  is  especially  suggested  in  the  case  before  us  by 
the  context.  In  ver.  27  he  writes : — u  Art  thou 
bound  to  a  wife  ?  seek  not  to  be  loosed.  A.rt  thou 
loosed  from  a  wife  ?  seek  not  a  wife"  No  ingenuous 
interpreter  has  ever  understood  Paul  as  here  intend 
ing  to  discountenance  marriage,  or  as  in  any  way 
contradicting  the  divine  declaration,  "  it  is  not  good 
for  man  to  be  alone."  It  was  in  view  of  "  the  pre 
sent  distress,"  i.^e.  liability  to  persecution  for  their 


72  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

religion's  sake,  Paul  gives  the  advice  lie  does  respect 
ing  marriage. 

So  in  the  words  "  if  thou  mayest  be  made  free,  use 
it  rather"  if  we  would  fairly  interpret  them  for  the 
purpose  of  applying  the  truth  they  teach  in  our 
country,  and  at  the  present  day,  we  must  take  into 
account, — 

1.  In  Eome,  and  in  Greece  also,  slaves  were  held 
"jpro  quadrupedibus"  i.  e.  as  cattle,  and  the  master 
might  torture  them,  or  even  put  them  to  death,  at 
his  will.    (See  §  3.)     In  contrast  with  this,  a  slave  in 
our  Southern  States  is  as  truly  a  man,  in  the  eye  of 
the  law,  as  is  the  master.     A  master  will  be  hung  as 
quickly  for  the  murder  of  his  slave  as  he  would  for 
that  of  a  freeman.     In  this  view  of  the  case,  Calvin, 
in  his   comments   on   this   passage,  writes : — "  This 
admonition  was  very  necessary  at  that  time,  when 
slaves  were  driven  by  threats  and  stripes,  and  even 
fear  of  death,  to  obey  every  kind  of  command  with 
out  selection  or  exception,  so  that  they  reckoned  the 
procuring  of  prostitutes,  and   other  crimes  of  that 
nature,  to  be  duties  belonging  to  slaves,  equally  with 
honorable  employments." 

2.  Most  of  the  slaves  in  Paul's  day,  especially  those 
in  Greece,  were  of  nations  so  closely  allied  to  that  of 
the  master  that  they  could  freely  intermingle  if  set 
free,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  all  trace 


APOSTOLIC    PRECEPT.  73 

of  their  servile  condition  would  disappear.  The  case 
of  the  slaves  in  our  Southern  States  is  very  different. 
"We  fully  and  firmly  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
"  unity  of  the  human  race ;"  that  "  God  has  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth."  Even  if  the  physiologist  could 
find  no  trace  of  this  unity  in  the  body  :  The  body  is 
not  all  of  man,  black  or  white.  He  has  a  soul  also. 
And  the  fatal  sin  of  our  common  parent,  "  the  first 
Adam,"  has  branded  its  mark  of  our  unity  just  as 
deeply  and  indelibly  upon  the  soul  of  the  negro,  as  it 
has  on  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  And  in  the  regene 
ration  of  the  Christian  negro,  the  Holy  Spirit  brings 
out  a  second,  and,  blessed  be  God !  a  brighter  mark 
of  that  same  unity,  in  his  union  with  Christ,  "  the 
second  Adam."  And  every  time  that  the  Christian 
master  and  slave  sit  side  by  side  at  the  Lord's  table 
— and  in  a  ministry  of  twenty  years  at  thfi  South  I 
never  recollect  to  have  sat  at  the  Lord's  table  when 
there  were  not  slaves  at  the  same  table — we  make  a 
public  profession  of  our  faith  on  this  point. 

But  that  the  negro  cannot  mingle  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  in  our  country,  it  matters  not  for  our  present 
purpose  why  this  be  so ;  we  need  no  clearer  proof 
than  that  afforded  in  the  facts—I.  That  in  the  free 
States,  where  the  number  of  negroes  is  very  small, 
they  never  have  been  admitted  upon  equal  footing 


4  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

with  the  whites ;  and  2.  Whenever  the  number  of 
negroes  has  seemed  likely  to  increase  to  any  great 
extent,  in  any  of  those  States,  immediately  laws  have 
been  passed  to  prevent  their  immigration,  as  in 
Ohio. 

There  are  impediments  then  in  the  way  of  a  slave's 
attaining  to  the  rank  of  a  genuine  freeman,  even 
where  his  legal  freedom  has  been  granted  him,  exist 
ing  in  our  country,  and  at  the  present  day,  which 
did  not  exist  in  Corinth  at  the  time  Paul  wrote  this 
epistle  to  the  Church  in  that  city.  And  in  all  fair 
ness,  these  must  be  taken  into  account,  in  inter 
preting  Paul's  words  with  reference  to  our  country 
and  our  day. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

APOSTOLIC     INJUNCTION. 

"  Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  whatsoever  ye  shall  bind 
"  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
"  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven." 
—Matt.  XVIII.  18. 

§  12.  PAUL  DIRECTS  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER  TO  TEACH 
THIS  DOCTRINE  RESPECTING  THE  DUTIES  OF  SLAVES 
AND  MASTERS  IN  THE  CHURCH,  AND  PROHIBITS 

THE    TEACHING    OF   ANY   DOCTRINE    AT   VARIANCE 
WITH   IT    UNDER   MOST    SOLEMN    SANCTIONS. 

PBOOF.— I  Tim.  VI.  3-5;    Titus^  II.  9,  10, 15. 

1  Tim.  YI.  3-5. 

"Let  as  many  servants  as  are  under  the  yoke 
"  count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honor,  that 
"the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine  be  not  blas- 

75 


76  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 

"  phemed.  2.  And  they  that  have  believing  mas- 
"  ters,  let  them  not  despise  them,  because  they  are 
"  brethren ;  but  rather  do  them  service,  because 
"  they  are  faithful  and  beloved  partakers  of  the 
"  benefit.  These  things  teach  and  exhort.  3.  If 
"  any  man  teach  otherwise,  and  consent  not  to  whole- 
"  some  words,  even  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
"  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is  according  to 
"  godliness,  4.  He  is  proud,  knowing  nothing,  but 
"  doting  about  questions  and  strifes  of  words,  where- 
"  of  cometh  envy,  strife,  railings,  evil  surmisings, 
"  5.  Perverse  disputings  of  men  of  corrupt  minds, 
"  and  destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that  gain  is 
"  godliness  ;  from  such  withdraw  thyself." 

PARAPHRASE  OF  VER.  4,  5. — These  things  teach  in 
the  Church  and  exhort  thy  hearers  to  take  heed  to 
them.  (Yer.  2.)  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  (ver.  4,) 
he  is  puffed  up  with  pride  though  he  knoweth 
nothing,  having  a  morbid  fondness  for  so-called 
philosophical  questions  and  logomachies^}  whence 
cometh  envy,  strife,  blasphemies ',(2)  wicked  suspi 
cions,  perverse  disputings  of  men  of  corrupt  minds 
and  destitute  of  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  Jesus, 
reckoning  whatever  produces  most  money  is  the  best 
religion.  From  all  such  teachers  publicly  withdraw 
thyself^}  and  acknowledge  them  not  as  the  ministers 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  YT 

of  Christ,  that  all  men  may  see  that  this  doctrine  has 
not  the  countenance  of  thy  name  and  authority.* 

*  "  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  he  is  proud,  (Gr.  puffed  up,)  know 
ing  nothing,  but  doting  (sick)  about  questions  and  strifes  of  words, 
whereof  coraeth  envy,  strife,  railings,  evil  surmisings,  perverse  dis- 
putings  of  men  of  corrupt  minds,  and  destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing 
that  gain  is  godliness.  From  such  withdraw  thyself." — Whitby. 

"If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  he  is  puffed  up  with  pride,  and 
knoweth  nothing,  either  of  the  Jewish  or  Christian  revelation, 
although  he  pretends  to  have  great  knowledge  of  both ;  but  is  dis 
tempered  in  his  mind  about  idle  questions  and  debates  of  words, 
which  afford  no  foundation  for  such  doctrine,  but  are  the  source  of 
envy,  contention,  evil  speakings,  unjust  suspicions  that  the  truth  is 
not  sincerely  maintained,  keen  disputings,  carried  on  contrary  to 
conscience,  by  men  wholly  corrupt  in  their  minds  and  destitute  of 
the  true  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  who  reckon  whatever  produces  the 
most  money  is  the  best  religion.  From  all  such  impious  teachers 
withdraw  thyself,  and  do  not  dispute  with  them." — McKnight. 

"  If  any  man  teach  otherwise,  whatever  fair  show  of  simplicity  and 
humility  he  may  affect,  he  is  certainly  proud,  and  whatever  conceit  he 
may  have  of  his  superior  knowledge,  he  is  one  who  knows  nothing  to 
any  good  purpose ;  but,  like  a  man  raving  and  delirious  in  a  fever,  he 
runs  on,  declaiming  on  idle  questions  and  useless  debates  about  words, 
from  whence  no  good  can  be  expected  to  arise,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
a  great  deal  of  mischief;  envying  of  those  more  regarded  than  them 
selves,  contention  with  others  who  will  not  submissively  yield  to  what 
such  self-sufficient  teachers  dictate ;  abusive  language,  which  their 
intemperate  zeal  deals  round  to  all  who  offend  them,  and  evil  suspi 
cions  and  obnoxious  representations  of  the  worthiest  and  most 
amiable  characters ;  angry  debates  of  men  whose  minds  are  corrupt 
and  averse  from  the  truth,  for  which  they  pretend  so  eagerly  to 


T8  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 


.Q  —  Having  a  morbid  fondness  for  so-called 
philosophical  questions  and  logomachies.  "  Noson 
(doting)  denotes  c  having  a  morbid  fondness  for,'  of 
which  examples  are  adduced  by  Wets  and  in  Rec. 
Syn."  —  Bloomfield.  The  sense  in  which  the  word 
zataseis  (questions)  is  used  here  is  determined  by 
Paul's  words  "perverse  disputings"  (paradiatribd), 
subsequently  used.  On  this  word  McKnight  re 
marks  :  —  "  A  philosophical  disputation,  such  as  was 
held  in  the  schools,  was  called  diatriba  ;  but  the 
addition  of  the  preposition  para  converts  the  word 
into  a  bad  meaning."  And  Bloomfield  :  —  "  The  para 
denotes  inanity,  and  the  dia  vehemence."  The  Greek 
word  logomachia  (strifes  of  words)  has  no  common 
English  word  exactly  corresponding  to  it,  since  it  is 
used  to  convey  the  idea  of  a  strife  with  mere  words 
as  well  as  about  mere  words. 

(')  —  Blasphemies.  The  Greek  word  llasphemia 
(railings)  is  generally  used  in  the  New  Testament  of 
railing  words  spoken  against  God,  and  we  see  no 
good  reason  for  giving  it  a  different  meaning  here, 
more  especially  as  it  is  evidently  used  in  this  sense 
in  the  immediate  context  —  "  that  the  name  of  God 

plead;  while  they  seem  to  suppose  that  which.  promises  the  largest 
quantity  of  gain  to  be  most  worthy  of  pursuit,  and  would,  if  possible, 
varnish  it  over  with  the  venerable  name  of  godliness.  Turn  away 
therefore  from  such,  and  have  no  intimacy  with  them."  —  Doddridge. 


APOSTOLIC    INJUNCTION.  79 

and  his  doctrine  be  not  blasphemed." — Yer.  1.  Of 
the  truth  of  Paul's  descriptions,  thus  understanding 
this  word,  we  have  many  illustrations  at  the  present 
day. 

(3) — From  all  such  teachers  publicly  withdraw  thy 
self.  For  the  use  of  a  similar  expression  in  this  sense, 
see  1  Cor.  Y.  11 : — "  But  now  I  have  written  unto 
you  not  to  keep  company,  if  any  man  that  is  called  a 
brother  be  a  fornicator,  or  covetous,  or  an  idolater, 
or  a  railer,  or  a  drunkard,  or  an  extortioner,  with 
such  an  one,  no  not  to  eat ;"  understood  by  all  com 
mentators  to  mean  that  such  an  one  should  be  excom 
municated  from  the  Church. 

TITUS  II.  9,  10,  15. 

"Exhort  servants  to  be  obedient  to  their  own 
"  masters,  and  to  please  them  well  in  all  things ; 
"  not  answering  again  :  not  purloining  but  shewing 
"  all  good  fidelity  :  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine 
"  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things.  15.  These  things 
"  speak,  and  exhort  and  rebuke  with  all  authority. 
"  Let  no  man  despise  thee." 

PARAPHRASE  OF  VER.  15. — These  things  which  I,  as 
an  Apostle  of  Jesus,  have  just  given  thee  in  charge, 
respecting  the  duties  of  the  old  and  the  young  of  both 


80  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

sexes,  (ver.  1-6,)  and  of  those  who  in  God's  provi 
dence  are  in  the  condition  of  slaves  (douloi\  (ver.  9, 
10,)  speak  openly  and  exhort  all  thy  hearers  to  attend 
to  them.  And  rebuke  the  Judaizing  teachers  who 
inculcate  a  different  doctrine  with  all  the  authority 
which  belongs  to  thee  as  an  Evangelist,  and  as  such 
a  spiritual  ruler  in  the  Church.  And  suffer  no  man 
to  despise  thee,  or  disregard  thy  decisions  in  these 
matters.* 

*  "  These  things  speak  and  exhort,  and  rebuke  the  opposers  of 
this  doctrine  with  all  authority.  Let  no  man  despise  thee,  but  use 
the  censures  of  the  Church,  and  deliver  up  to  Satan  those  Jews  who 
gainsay  this  doctrine." — WJtitby. 

"  These  things  inculcate  as  necessary  to  be  believed,  and  exhort  all 
who  profess  the  Gospel  to  live  suitably  to  them.  And  such  as  teach 
otherwise  confute  with  all  the  authority  which  is  due  to  truth,  and  to 
thee  as  a  teacher  commissioned  of  Christ.  Let  no  one  have  reason 
to  despise  thee." — AfcKnight. 

"  These  things  therefore  speak  boldly,  and  earnestly  exhort  all  thy 
hearers  to  attend  to  them.  And  if  they  fail  of  regarding  them  in  a 
proper  manner,  rebuke  them  with  all  authority,  as  one  that  knows  he 
has  a  divine  commission  to  support  him  :  and,  upon  the  whole,  let  no 
man  despise  thee  ;  but  endeavor  to  give  them  exhortations  with  that 
solemnity  and  dignity,  and  to  enforce  them  by  that  wisdom  and 
sanctity  of  behavior,  which  may  set  thee  above  all  danger  of  con 
tempt." — Doddridge. 


APOSTOLIC  INJUNCTION.  81 

REMARKS. 

Let  the  reader  compare  this  account,  given  by 
Paul,  with  that  given  by  Dr.  Channing — and  surely 
Dr.  Channing  cannot  be  thought  to  be  a  witness  giv 
ing  testimony  under  pro-slavery  prejudices — of  the 
same  class  of  teachers  in  this  our  day : 

"  The  Abolitionists  have  done  wrong,  I  believe ; 
nor  is  their  wrong  to  be  winked  at,  because  done 
fanatically,  or  with  good  intentions :  for  how  much 
mischief  may  be  wrought  with  good  designs  !  They 
have  fallen  into  the  common  error  of  enthusiasts,  that 
of  exaggerating  their  object,  of  feeling  as  if  no  evil 
existed  but  that  which  they  opposed,  and  as  if  no  guilt 
could  be  compared  with  that  of  countenancing  and 
upholding  it.  The  tone  of  their  newspapers,  as  far 
as  I  have  seen  them,  has  often  been  fierce,  bitter,  and 
abusive.  Another  objection  to  their  movement  is, 
that  they  have  sought  to  accomplish  their  object  by 
a  system  of  agitation  ,  that  is,  by  a  system  of  affili 
ated  societies,  gathered,  and  held  together,  and  ex 
tended,  by  passionate  eloquence.  The  Abolitionists 
might  have  formed  an  association  ;  but  it  should  have 
been  an  elective  one.  Men  of  strong  principles,  judi 
ciousness,  sobriety,  should  have  been  carefully  sought 
as  members.  Much  good  might  have  been  accom 
plished  by  the  co-operation  of  such  philanthropists. 

4* 


82  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF    SLAVERY. 

Instead  of  this,  the  Abolitionists  sent  forth  their  ora 
tors,  some  of  them  transported  with  fiery  zeal,  to 
sound  the  alarm  against  slavery  throughout  the  land, 
to  gather  together  young  and  old,  pupils  from  schools, 
females  hardly  arrived  at  years  of  discretion,  the 
ignorant,  the  excitable,  the  impetuous,  and  to  organ 
ize  these  into  associations  for  the  battle  against  op 
pression.  Very  unhappily  they  preached  their  doc 
trine  to  the  colored  people,  and  formed  these  into 
societies.  To  this  mixed  and  excitable  multitude, 
minute,  heart-rending,  descriptions  of  slavery  were 
given  in, the  piercing  tones  of  passion;  and  slave 
holders  were  held  up  as  monsters  of  cruelty  and 
crime.  The  Abolitionist,  indeed,  proposed  to  con 
vert  the  slave-holders ;  and  'for  this  end,  he  ap 
proached  them  with  vituperation,  and  exhausted  on 
them  the  vocabulary  of  abuse  !  And  he  has  reaped 
as  he  sowed." — Quoted  from,  Dr.  Hodgds  Essays, 
pp.  477,  478. 

DR.  BARNES  !  !  !  in  his  "  Scriptural  Yiews  of 
Slavery,"  p.  267,  quotes  and  endorses  this  descrip 
tion  of  Dr.  Channing. 

§  13.  "BLASPHEMIES." 

Among  the  consequences  of  such  "  questions  and 
strifes  of  words"  as  characterized  the  anti-slavery 


APOSTOLIC    INJUNCTION.  83 

preaching  in  Paul's  day,  he  reckons  blasphemies. 
The  same  is  true  of  it  in  our  day.  As  an  instance, 
take  the  following :  "  Down  with  your  Bible  !  down 
with  your  political  parties  !  down  with  your  God  that 
sanctions  slavery !  The  God  of  Moses  Stuart,  the 
Andover  God,  the  God  of  "Wm.  H.  Eogers,  which  is 
worshipped  in  the  Winter  St.  Church,  is  a  monster, 
composed  of  oppression,  fraud,  injustice,  pollution, 
and  every  crime  in  the  shape  of  slavery.  To  such  a 
God  I  am  an  Atheist." — Mr.  Wright,  in  his  Speech 
before  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  Boston,  May,  1850. 
To  those  familiar  with  the  anti-slavery  literature  of 
the  day,  especially  the  speeches  delivered  at  anniver 
sary  meetiugs,  there  is  no  need  that  I  should  remark, 
that  blasphemy  is  one  of  the  characteristic  features 
of  it. 

And  in  connection  with  such  open  and  positive 
blasphemy,  as  that  quoted  above,  let  the  reader  take 
an  extract  or  two  from  the  late  writings  of  Dr. 
Barnes : 

"  Is  it  to  be  held  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
ardent  spirits  will  have  something  to  do  with  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel  and  the  salvation  of  men,  and 
slavery  nothing  ?  That  the  vending  of  a  few  lottery- 
tickets  is  a  matter  of  sufficient  importance  to  claim 
the  attention  of  the  ministers  of  religion,  and  this 
not?  That  the  amusements  of  the  ball-room,  the 


84:  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

theatre,  and  the  opera,  should  engage  the  earnest 
prayers  and  exhortations  of  the  ministers  of  religion, 
and  that  the  fact  that  three  millions  of  human  beings 
are  held  under  such  a  system,  can  have  no  claim  on 
the  attention  of  the  ministers  of  Christ?  Shall  a 
horse-race,  a  bull-fight,  or  even  a  duel,  be  deemed  of 
sufficient  moment  to  awaken  the  indignation  and  stir 
the  soul  of  a  minister  of  Christ,  and  this  enormous 
system  of  injustice  and  wrong  have  nothing  to  awa 
ken  his  sympathy,  and  to  enkindle  his  zeal?  Is  the 
system  of  caste  in  India,  an  evil  greater  than  Ameri 
can  slavery  ?  Is  the  voluntary  burning  of  a  few 
widows  on  the  funeral  pile,  either  as  an  obstruction 
to  the  Gospel  or  as  actual  wrong,  to  be  compared 
with  this  system  ?  Is  the  swinging  on  hooks  or  the 
painful  torture  of  the  body  in  Hindoo  devotion  an 
obstruction  to  the  progress  of  the  Gospel,  at  all  to  be 
compared  in  extent  or  in  enormity  with  American 
slavery." — Dr.  Barnes1  Church  and  Slavery,  pp. 
161-2. 

"  With  what  consistency,  it  might  be  asked,  can  a 
nation  engage  in  the  work  of  missions  to  the  heathen, 
which  systematically  and  on  principle  holds  three 
millions  of  human  beings  in  slavery  ?  What  is  the 
kind  of  religion  which  such  a  people  would  seek  to 
introduce  among  the  heathen,  and  to  substitute  for 
the  forms  of  superstition  and  idolatry  which  prevail 


APOSTOLIC    INJUNCTION.  85 

there  ?  And  wliat  would  be  the  advantage  of  substi 
tuting  a  religion  where  such  views  and  purposes  are 
avowed,  for  those  systems  which  now  actually  pre 
vail  in  heathen  lands?" — Church  and  Slavery,  pp. 
170,  1. 

"  We  must  either  give  up  the  point  that  the  New 
Testament  defends  slavery,  or  we  must  give  up  a 
very  large — and  an  increasingly  large— portion  of  the 
people  of  this  land  to  infidelity  ;  for  they  neither  can, 
nor  will,  nor  ought,  to  be  convinced  that  a  book 
which  sanctions  slavery  is  from  God.  I  believe  that 
this  must,  and  should  le  so ;  and  that  there  are  great 
principles  in  our  nature,  as  God  has  made  us,  which 
can  never  be  set  aside  by  any  authority  of  a  pre 
tended  revelation ;  and  that  if  a  book  professing  to 
be  a  revelation  from  God,  by  any  fair  interpretation 
defended  slavery,  or  placed  it  on  the  same  basis  as 
the  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child, 
guardian  and  ward,  such  a  book  neither  ought  to  be, 
nor  could  be  received  by  mankind  as  a  divine  revela 
tion."—  The  Church  and  Slavery,  p.  193. 

Dr.  Barnes  may  be  able  to  show,  that  this  language 
of  his  does  not  amount  to  positive  blasphemy ;  but  we 
ask— using  one  of  his  own  favorite  expressions— what 
would  "  a  proper  development  of  it "  be  ? 


86  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 


§  14.    "  SO-CALLED     PHILOSOPHICAL    QUESTIONS     AND 
LOGOMACHIES. 

1.  "Mere  Property"* 

"  Property  is  the  right  of  possession  and  use,  and 
must  of  necessity  vary  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
objects  to  which  it  attaches.  A  man  has  property  in 
his  wife,  in  his  children,  in  his  domestic  animals,  in 
his  fields,  and  in  his  forests.  That  is,  he  has  the 
right  to  the  possession  and  use  of  these  several  ob 
jects  according  to  their  nature.  He  has  no  more 

*  "  So  long  as  the  slave  is  regarded  as  a  '  chattel,'  or  a  mere  piece 
of  'property,'  like  a  horse,  so  long  men  endeavor  to  content  them 
selves  with  the  feeling  that  he  may  be  held  in  bondage." — Barnes1 
Notes  on  Eph.  VI,  9. 

"  What  is  the  essential  element  of  the  system  ?  What  distin 
guishes  it  from  all  other  relations  ?  This  question  can  now  be  an 
swered  by  the  single  reply,  that  it  is  PROPERTY  IN  A  HUMAN  BEING. 
He  (the  master)  regards  him  (the  slave)  as  his  own  property  in  the 
same  sense  as  he  regards  anything  else  as  his  property." — Scriptural 
Views  of  Slavery,  p.  47. 

"According  to  the  system,  their  (slaves')  bodies  are  not  their  own, 
their  souls,  so  far  as  they  can  be  made  to  subserve  the  interests  of 
the  master,  are  not  their  own." — The  Church  and  Slavery,  p.  179. 

"  He  (the  master)  sets  the  slave  up  at  auction,  not  his  services  ;  he 
disposes  of  the  slave  in  his  will,  by  name,  not  of  his  unexpired  term 
of  service.  '? — Scriptural  Views,  p.  55. 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  87 

right  to  use  a  brute  as  a  log  of  wood,  in  virtue  of  the 
right  of  property,  than  he  has  the  right  to  use  a  man 
as  a  brute.     There  are  general  principles  of  rectitude 
obligatory  on  all  men,  which  require  them  to  treat 
all  the  creatures   of  God  according  to   the   nature 
which  he  has  given  them.     The  man  who  should  burn' 
his  horse  because  he  was  his  property,  would  find  no 
justification  in  that  plea  either  before  God  or  man. 
When,  therefore,  it  is  said  that  one  man  is  the  pro 
perty  of  another,  it  can  only  mean  that  the  one  has 
a  right  to  use  the  other  as  a  man,  but  not  as  a  brute 
or  as  a  thing.     He  has  no  right  to  treat  him  as  he  may 
lawfully  treat  his  ox  or  a  tree.     He  can  convert  his 
person  to  no  use  to  which  a  human  being  may  not, 
by  the  laws  of  God  and  natnre,  be  properly  applied. 
When  the  idea  of  property  comes  to  be  analyzed,  it 
is  found  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  claim  to  service 
either  for  life  or  for  a  term  of  years.     This  claim  is 
transferable,  and  is  of  the  nature  of  property,  and  is 
consequently  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  owner,  and 
subject  to  his  disposal  by  will  or  otherwise."—  Dr. 
Hodges  Essays  on  Reviews,  p.  499. 

This  view  of  the  nature  of  the  property  which  a 
master  has  in  his  slave,  is  the  view  which  all  ethical 
writers  of  any  reputation,  whether  Christian  or  not 
have  taken  ;  and  Dr.  Barnes  had  before  him  this  very 
Essay  of  Dr.  Hodge,  as  is  evident  from  his  frequent 


OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY 

'OF 


88  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   CF    SLAVERY. 

quotations  from  it,  when  he  penned  such  sentences  as 
those  quoted  in  the  note.  On  what  ground,  on  what 
authority,  does  he  set  it  aside  ?  On  none,  that  we 
can  discover,  except  that  presented  in  his  words — 
"  He  sets  the  slave  up  at  auction— he  disposes  of  the 
slave  in  his  will,  l>y  name." 

In  Matt.  XX.  6,  7,  we  read :— "  About  the  eleventh 
hour  he  went  out  and  found  others  standing  idle  in 
the  market-place^  and  said  unto  them,  "Why  stand  ye 
here  all  the  day  idle  ?  They  say  unto  him,  Because 
no  man  hath  hired  1*0."  These  men  exposed  them 
selves,  bodily,  for  hire  in  the  market-place  ;  and  their 
language  is  "  hired  us"  Shall  we  hence  infer,  that 
when  the  "owner  of  the  vineyard"  hired  them  he 
acquired,  a  temporary  property  "  in  their  bodies  and 
their  souls,"  and  that  they  meant  to  transfer  such 
property  to  him  ?  If  Dr.  B.  wished  to  hire  a  house- 
servant  for  a  month  or  a  year,  would  he  not  expect 
that  house-servant  to  show  himself  bodily  to  him? 
not  because  he  wished  to  acquire  a  temporary  right 
of  property  in  his  body,  but  because  thus  only  could 
he  judge  of  his  physical  ability  to  perform  the  service 
for  which  he  wished  him.  And  when  he  had  hired 
him,  would  he  not  say,  I  have  hired  such  an  one — 
naming  him — for  a  month  or  a  year,  as  the  case 
might  be  ?  Such  is  the  language  always  used  in 
common  life ;  and  although  it  may  not  be  philosophi- 


APOSTOLIC    INJUNCTION.  89 

cally  accurate,  none  but  the  willfully  perverse  can 
misunderstand  it. 

\  ' 

2.  "  A  chattel,  a  thing."* 

"  Slaves  shall  be  claimed,  held,  taken,  reputed  and 
adjudged  in  law  to  be  chattels  personal  in  the  hands 
of  their  owners  and  possessors,"  is  the  language  of 
the  law  in  South  Carolina.  And  hence  it  is  inferred 
that  that  law  does  not  regard  a  slave  as  a  human 
being,  but  as  a  "  thing" 

If  this  be  a  correct  view  of  the  case,  how  comes  it 

*  "  It  follows  from  this  that  a  slave  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a 
*  chattel '  or  a  '  thing,'  or  as  '  property.'  He  is  a  man,  a  redeemed 
man,  an  immortal  man.  He  is  one  for  whom  Christ  died.  But 
Christ  did  not  die  for  '  chattels  *  and  '  things.'  " — Barnes1  Notes  on 
Eph.  VI.  9. 

"  It  would  be  impossible  for  Philemon  to  comply  with  the  wishes 
breathed  forth  in  this  letter,  and  meet  exactly  the  desires  of  Paul  in 
the  case,  and  yet  regard  him  (Onesimus)  as  property,  as  a  '  chattel,' 
rfs  a  *  thing.' " — Barnes1  Notes,  Philemon. 

"  This  system  (I  speak  of  the  system,  not  of  the  feelings  of  many 
who  are  connected  with  it)  treats  man  not  as  man,  and  not  as  capable 
of  redemption,  but  as  a  'chattel,'  as  a  'thing;'  this  system  does  at 
least  as  much  in  this  country  to  hinder  the  progress  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  and  involves  as  many  violations  of  the  law  of  God,  as 
either  intemperance,  gaming,  lotteries,  sabbath-breaking,  skepticism, 
infidelity,  if  not  as  much  as  all  combined.5* — Church  and  Slavery, 
p.  167. 


90  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 

that  the  laws  of  South  Carolina  make  the  killing  of 
a  slave,  murder;  and  the  forcible  violation  of  the 
person  of  a  female  slave,  rape  ?  Can  a  "  thing  " — a 
bale  of  cotton,  for  example — be  murdered  ? 

What  is  a  "  chattel  ?"  "  In  the  grand  costumier 
of  Normandy,"  writes  BLACKSTONE,  "  a  chattel  is 
described  as  a  mere  movable,  but  at  the  same  time 
it  is  set  in  opposition  to  a  fief  or  feud ;  so  that  not 
only  goods,  but  whatever  was  not  a  feud,  were 
accounted  chattels.  And  it  is  in  this  latter,  more 
extended,  negative  sense  that  our  law  adopts  it ;  the 
idea  of  goods  or  movables  only  being  not  sufficiently 
comprehensive  to  take  in  everything  that  the  law 
considers  as  a  chattel  interest.  For  since,  as  the 
commentators  on  the  costumier  observe,  there  are 
two  requisites  to  make  a  fief  or  heritage — duration  as 
to  time  and  immobility  with  regard  to  place ;  what 
ever  wants  either  of  these  qualities,  is  not,  according 
to  the  Normans,  a  heritage  or  fief ;  or,  according  to 
us,  is  not  a  real  estate ;  the  consequence  of  which  in 
both  laws  is,  that  it  must  be  a  personal  estate  or 
chattel." — Blackstonds  Commentary,  book  ii.  ch.  24. 

When  then  the  civil  code  of  South  Carolina — for  it 
is  the  civil  and  not  the  criminal  code  that  is  quoted— 
declares  that  "  slaves  shall  be  claimed,  held,  taken, 
reputed,  and  adjudged  in  law  to  be  chattels  per 
sonal,"  the  declaration  in  effect  is,  simply  that 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  91 

they  are  not  to  be  held  as  real  estate :  that  the  pro 
perty  which  the  master  has  in  the  slave — without  at 
all  determining  the  extent  of  that  property — shall  be 
governed  by  the  laws  respecting  transfer  and  trans 
mission,  which  apply  to  personal  estate.  The  interest 
which  a  master  has  in  his  apprentice,  under  the  laws 
of  Pennsylvania,  or  which  Dr.  Barnes  may  have  in  a 
minor,  bound  as  a  servant  to  him  for  a  term  of  years, 
is  as  truly  a  chattel  interest,  in  the  law  sense  of  that 
term,  as  the  interest  which  the  master  has  in  his 
slave.  And  this  fact  no  more  degrades  the  person, 
in  the  account  of  the  law,  from  the  rank  of  an  immor 
tal  being,  for  whom  Christ  died,  in  the  one  case  than 
in  the  other.  And  when  Dr.  Barnes  declares, 
"  Christ  did  not  die  for  chattels,"  he  cuts  off  the 
apprentice  and  the  bound  servant  along  with  the 
slave — "  the  poor"  to  whom  Christ  left  especial 
direction  that  his  Gospel  should  be  preached — from 
all  the  precious  hopes  which  are  garnered  up  in  that 
Gospel. 

3.  "Unrequited  Labor*" 
In  the  aspect  in  which  this  objection  contemplates 

*  "  One  of  the  elementary  principles  of  it  (slavery)  is,  that  there 
must  be  '  unrequited  labor ;'  that  is,  the  slave  must  earn  as  much 
more  than  he  receives  as  will  do  his  part  in  maintaining  the  master  in 


92  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF    SLAVERY. 

slavery,  the  question  is  properly  one  respecting  the 
relations  of  "  capital  and  labor,"  and  in  all  fairness 
should  be  so  treated. 

Let  us  state  it  as  a  question  of  capital  and  labor, 
taking  the  case  of  a  slave  on  one  of  our  southern 
plantations,  and  it  will  stand  thus : — The  capitalist 
(i.  e.  the  master)  furnishes  the  land,  live-stock,  seed, 
and  agricultural  implements.  The  laborer  (i.  e.  the 
slave)  furnishes  his  own  labor  in  the  use  of  this  capi 
tal.  The  master,  in  return  for  his  capital  used,  and 
his  skill  in  superintending  and  conducting  the  affairs 
of  the  plantation,  receives  the  maintenance  of  himself 
and  family — perhaps  something  more. , .  The  slave,  in 
return  for  his  labor,  receives  as  wages,  shelter,  food, 
and  clothing  for  himself  and  his  young  children,  as 
yet  dependent  on  him,  his  maintenance  and  medical 
attendance  in  sickness,  and  a  comfortable  provision 
for  his  old  age.  In  what  does  this  case  differ  from 
that  of  the  northern  capitalist,  the  owner  of  a  cotton- 
idleness,  for  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  system,  that  he  is  to  be 
maintained  in  indolence  by  the  slaves  which  he  owns." — Barnes1 
.Votes,  Col.  IV.  1. 

"  Slavery  is,  of  necessity,  a  system  of  unrequited  toil.  The  master 
expects  to  make  something  by  the  slave ;  that  is,  he  expects  to  secure 
more  from  the  labor  of  the  slave  than  he  returns  to  him." — "  Appro 
priating  to  ourselves  entirely  the  avails  of  the  labor  of  another  man, 
is  an  essential  to  the  system." — Script.  Views  of  Slavery,  pp.  52,  854. 


APOSTOLIC    INJUNCTION.  93 

factory,  for  example,  and  the  laborer  he  employs, 
excepting  that  in  one  case  the  wages  are  paid  "  in 
kind,"  in  the  other  in  money. 

But  "  the  master  (i.  e.  the  Southern  capitalist) 
expects  to  make  something  by  the  slave "  (i.  e.  the 
laborer).  And  does  not  the  Northern  capitalist  ex 
pect  to  make  something  by  the  laborers  he  employs  ? 
Are  cotton-factories  benevolent  institutions,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor  ?  But  "  the  master  is  maintained 
in  idleness;"  i.  e.  he  does  not  take  hold  of  the  plough- 
handle  and  the  hoe,  as  the  slave  does.  And  does 
the  owner  of  a  cotton-factory  labor  as  an  operative 
within  its  walls?  .  .: 

But,  says  Dr.  B.,  "  it  is  vain  to  say  that  the  food, 
the  raiment,  and  the  cottage  of  the  slave  are  any 
equivalent  for  his  services,  or  that  the  deficiency  of 
these  is  made  up  by  the  implied  pledge  of  the  master 
that  he  will  furnish  him  with  medicine  when  sick, 
and  that  he  will  take  care  of  him  when  he  is  old." 
We  would  inform  Dr.  B.;  by  the  way,  that  these  are 
not  matters  secured  by  "  the  implied  pledge  of  the 
master,"  but  by  "the  righteous  slave-laws"  of  the 
Southern  States ;  and  if  the  master  fails  to  provide 
them,  the  proper  authorities  will  do  it,  and  the  mas 
ter  will  have  to  pay  for  it,  «  None  of  these  things 
are  such  an  equivalent  for  his  services  that  a  free 
man  would  be  willing  to  contract  for  them  by  selling 


94  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

himself  into  slavery;  they  are  not  what  a  freeman 
can  secure  by  voluntary  labor." — Script.  Views,  p.  52. 

If  by  freeman,  we  understand  the  free  laborer  in 
our  Northern  States,  we  reply, — the  wages  of  the 
slave  are  not  as  much  as  the  freeman  can  secure. 
Intelligence  and  industry  are,  and  ought  to  be,  taken 
into  account  in  determining  a  laborer's  wages.  And 
in  these  particulars  the  American  laborer  is  far  in 
advance  of  the  African,  but  a  few  generations  re 
moved,  as  the  latter  is,  from  the  most  degraded, 
debasing  barbarism.  But  compare  the  case  of  the 
slave  with  that  of  the  free  laborer  in  Europe,  and  the 
wages  of  the  former  are  better  than  those  of  the 
latter  ;  as  is  proven  by  the  fact,  that  one  out  of  every 
five,  even  in  Great  Britain,  of  these  free  laborers,  is 
compelled  to  spend  a  part  of  his  days  in  the  poor- 
house.  That  is,  he  does  not  receive  for  his  labor 
what  amounts  to  a  support  for  himself  and  family 
while  able  to  labor,  and  a  comfortable  provision  in 
sickness  and  old  age. 

Even  in  our  country,  taking  into  account  the 
amount  and  quality  of  the  labor,  the  slave  must 
receive  more  wages  than  the  freeman ;  else  how  can 
it  be  that  slave-labor  is  less  profitable  to  the  capi 
talist  than  free-labor?  This  allegation,  so  often 
repeated  by  anti-slavery  writers,  (see  Script.  Views^ 
pp.  24,  25,)  if  it  mean  anything,  must  mean  that  the 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  95 

capitalist  pays,  and  the  laborer  receives,  more  wages 
for  a  given  amount  of  labor  performed  under  a  sys 
tem  of  slavery  than  under  one  of  free-labor. 

4.  "Theft."* 

Anti-slavery  writers  are  accustomed  to  speak  of 
slave-holders  as  i;  men-stealers,"  as  guilty  of  "  theft ;" 
not  as  the  actual  thieves,  but  as  the  receivers  of 
stolen  goods. 

Let  us  take  Dr.  Barnes'  illustration  of  the  case  by 
that  of  "  a  stolen  horse"  and  admit  for  the  present 

*  "  None  become  slaves  voluntarily,  and  consequently  the  whole 
process  of  making  slaves  partakes  of  the  nature  of  theft  of  the  worst 
kind.  What  guilt  is  like  that  of  stealing  a  man's  children  or  wife,  or 
his  father  or  mother  ?  The  guilt  of  man-stealing  is  incurred  essen 
tially  by  those  who  purchase  those  who  are  thus  stolen,  as  the  pur- 
chaser  of  a  stolen  horse,  knowing  it  to  be  so,  participates  in  the  crime. 
A.  measure  of  that  criminality  also  adheres  to  all  who  own  slaves,  and 
thus  maintain  the  system,  for  it  is  a  system  known  to  have  been  ori 
ginated  by  theft." — Barnes1  Notes  on  1  Tim.  L  10. 

In  his  Scriptural  Views  of  Slavery,  Dr.  B.  illustrates  the  case  by 
that  of  Napoleon's  plundering  the  Italian  churches  and  monasteries 
of  their  choicest  paintings,  remarking  :  "  It  is  clear  that  no  lapse  of 
time,  no  amount  of  legal  enactment,  and  no  number  of  transfers  of 
the  property,  by  sale  or  bequest,  could  ever  convey  a  moral  right  to 
those  works  of  art.  Somewhere,  in  spite  of  all  these  forms  of  law,  the 
wrong  is  perpetuated  and  extended,  nor  can  it  ever  be  obliterated  but 
by  a  restoration." — Pp.  356,  357. 


96  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

what  lie  doubtless  believes,  though  we  do  not,  that 
the  illustration  is  a  fair  one.  The  case  as  stated  by 
Dr.  B.  is  not  fully  stated.  That  we  may  deal  fairly 
by  all  the  parties  concerned  in  the  transaction,  we 
must  go  back  to  the  beginning,  and  ask  first  of  all, 
Who  stole  the  horse  ?  To  this  the  only  true  reply  is, 
The  Northern  man  ;  for  nothing  is  more  certain  than 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  States,  and  not 
the  people  of  the  South,  were  the  persons  immedi 
ately  employed  in  the  African  slave-trade  at  the  time 
that  most  of  the  original  stock  of  slaves  was  brought 
into  this  country,*  and  that  Southern  men  purchased 
from  them.  At  the  time,  neither  party  thought  it 
was  a  theft.  But  since  then,  JST.  has  found  out  that 
such  was  the  nature  of  the  act.  If  now,  he  would 
honestly  repair  the  wrong  done,  let  him  come  to  S. 
with  the  money  that  S.  paid  him,  and  returning  it, 
say, — I  have  found  out  that  the  horse  I  sold  you  was 
a  stolen  horse,  I  therefore  bring  you  back  the  money 
you  paid  me  for  him.  Eeturn  me  the  horse,  that  I 
may  restore  him  to  his  rightful  owner.  Is  not  this 
what  would  be  required  by  the  law  of  God  as  well  as 

"  They  (i.  e.  the  Southern  people)  remember  with  little  gratitude 
the  laws  and  cupidity  of  the  Mother  country  by  which  it  (slavery) 
was  imposed  on  them,  and  the  Northern  ships  by  which  the  inhabit 
ants  of  Africa  were  conveyed  to  their  shores." — Barnes1  Scrip. 
Views,  p.  9. 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  97 

of  man  in  the  case  as  stated  by  Dr.  B.  ?  But  sup 
pose  that,  instead  of  this,  N.  comes,  and  not  offering 
to  refund  any  part  of  the  price  which  S.  paid  him  for 
the  horse,  with  sanctimonious  visage,  says :  S.,  you 
are  a  thief;  that  horse  you  have  is  a  stolen  horse; 
and  you'll  be  a  thief  as  long  as  you  keep  him.  Is  not 
this  just  the  case  in  which  our  Lord  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  a  respondent  the  reply,  "Thou  hypocrite, 
first  cast  out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye ;  and 
then-  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out 
of  thy  brother's  eye." 

Does  Dr.  B.  say :  The  present  generation  of 
Northern  men  did  not  receive  the  price,  and  they 
have  it  not,  and  therefore  cannot  be  rightfully  called 
upon  to  return  it  ?  We  reply  :  Neither  did  the  pre 
sent  generation  of  Southern  men  receive  the  stolen 
horse,  and  they  have  him  not,  (he  died  years  ago,) 
and  therefore  cannot  be  rightfully  called  upon  to 
return  him.  If  the  stolen  horse  "  is  somewhere,"  so 
is  the  money  paid  for  him  "  somewhere."  At  this 
day,  that  money  is  just  as  easily  to  be  found  in  the 
shipping  and  manufacturing  establishments  of  New. 
England,  as  the  stolen  horse  is  upon  a  Southern 
plantation. 

Let  us  take  another  case.  Most  of  the  land  in  New 
England — and  the  same  is  true  in  the  Southern  States 
— was  procured  from  its  original  possessors,  the  In* 

5 


THE    CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

dians,  by  fraud  or  violence.  And  hence  the  original 
title — original,  as  the  land  is  now  held — is  a  title 
which,  at  this  day,  all  would  regard  as  an  unrighteous 
one.  Does  this  vitiate  the  title  of  the  present  owner, 
who  has  purchased  or  inherited  it  under  the  peaceful 
operation  of  law  ?  Is  lie  a  robber  as  truly  as  if  he 
had  wrested  the  land  from  the  Indian  on  yesterday? 
The  truth  is,  all  such  reasoning  as  this  is  delusive. 
(See  Paletfs  Moral  Phil.,  book  iii.  ch.  2,  3,  4,  for  a 
more  full  examination  of  the  subject.)  The  distinc 
tion  between  man-stealing  (i.  e.  kidnapping)  and 
slave-holding  made  in  the  laws  of  our  country — and 
just  the  same  distinction  was  made  in  the  laws  of 
Moses,  and  recognized  in  the  New  Testament  (see 
§  5) — is  a  proper  distinction,  and  one  which  no  sound 
writer  has  ever  discarded. 


5.  Exclusion  from  the  Pulpit* 
Dr.  Barnes  complains,  and  the  same  is  true  of  other 

*  "Now,  what  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  as 
I  understand  it,  demands,  is  not  that  the  subject  of  slavery  should 
have  any  undue  prominence  in  these  discussions,  nor  that  it  should  be 
forced  into  the  publications  of  the  Tract  Society  and  the  Sunday 
School  Union,  nor  that  it  should  occupy  the  sole  place  in  the  pulpit ; 
but  that  it  should  be  treated  just  as  all  other  acknowledged  evils  and 
wrongs  are:  as  contrary  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  as  preventing  the 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  99 

anti-slavery  writers,  that  he  is  not  permitted  to  preach 
his  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  in  the  pulpits 
at  the  South,  or  by  means  of  the  press,  through  the 
agency  of  the  American  Tract  Society  and  the  Ameri 
can  Sunday  School  Union  ;  and  represents  this  as  a 
willful  withholding  of  God's  truth  for  the  purpose  of 
conciliating  the  favor  of  the  Southern  slave-holder. 

This  is  all  a  misrepresentation  of  the  case  from 
beginning  to  end.  The  ministers  of  Christ  at  the 
South  are  accustomed  to  introduce  the  subject  of 
slavery  into  the  pulpit,  and  teach  all  that  the  Bible 
teaches  on  the  subject,  just  as  they  introduce 
any  other  subject  which  Christ  has  given  them 
in  charge.  And  I  will  add,  after  an  experience 
of  twenty  years,  there  is  no  subject  on  which  a 
Southern  congregation  listens  more  respectfully  to 
God's  truth,  as  taught  from  the  pulpit,  than  on  this 
very  one. 

Does  Dr.  B.  ask :  "Would  you  allow  me  to  occupy 

salvation  of  men,  as  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  as  an 
evil  not  to  be  perpetuated,  but  to  be  removed.  For  one,  I  am 
weary — and  I  am  sure  that  in  this  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  many 
thousands  of  others — of  the  perpetual  deference  shown  to  the  holders 
of  slaves  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  religious  literature  of  the  land.  I 
am  weary  of  the  care  taken,  more  than  in  other  cases  of  wrong,  to 
conciliate  their  favor  and  to  avoid  giving  them  offence." — Church  and 
Slavery,  pp.  158,  159. 


100  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

your  pulpit  to  preach  on  slavery  ?  My  prompt  reply 
is :  No,  sir ;  never.  As  a  pastor  of  a  Christian  Church, 
I  am  responsible  to  God  and  to  man,  that  nothing  but 
God's  truth  shall  be  preached  from  its  pulpit.  I  have 
your  creed  on  slavery,  in  such  passages  from  your 
published  works  as  these :  "  We  cannot  answer  the 
argument  for  infidelity  drawn  from  this  source,  if  we 
admit  that  slavery  is  authorized  by  the  Bible,  any 
more  than  we  could  answer  the  argument  if  the  Bible, 
by  a  fair  interpretation,  justified  polygamy,  theft, 
highway  robbery,  or  piracy." — "  I  believe,  that  if  a 
book,  professing  to  be  a  revelation  from  God,  by  any 
fair  interpretation,  defended  slavery,  or  placed  it  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife, 
parent  and  child,  guardian  and  ward,  such  a  book 
neither  ought  to  be,  nor  could  be,  received  by  man 
kind  as  a  divine  revelation." — Church  and  Slavery, 
pp.  188,  193.  And  I  say  to  you,  sir,  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  you  are,  in  my  view,  to  God's  truth, 
infidel.  You  cannot  enter  my  pulpit  to  preach  on 
slavery,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  Free-lover  can 
not  enter  it  to  preach  on  marriage,  or  the  Socialist  to 
preach  on  the  relation  of  parent  and  child.  But  any 
minister  of  Christ  who  will  come  and  preach  just 
what  the  Bible  teaches,  and  all  that  the  Bible  teaches, 
will  be  welcome,  not  to  my  pulpit  only,  but  to  any 
pulpit  in  the  slave-holding  States,  to  preach  on  the 


APOSTOLIC   INJUNCTION.  101 

subject  of  slavery,  or  any  other  subject  on  which 
Christ  has  given  instructions  to  his  Church. 

All  this  talk  of  "  orators  transported  with  fiery 
zeal"  (Channing)  about  "  mere  property" — "  A  chat 
tel,  a  thing"—"  Unrequited  labor"—"  Theft"—"  Ex 
clusion  from  the  pulpit,"  is  fitly  described  by  Paul 
as  mere  "  logomachy,"  a  wordy  dispute  about  mere 
words — words  which  the  "orator"  does  not  under 
stand,  and,  in  many  an  instance,  does  not  because  he 
will  not. 


CHAPTER    Y. 

NATURE   AND   ORIGIN   OF   SLAVERY. 

IN  our  examination  of  what  the  E"ew  Testament 
teaches  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  we  have  found — 
1.  That  slave-holding  does  not  appear  in  any  cata 
logue  of  sins  or  "  offences  "  given  us  by  inspired  men, 
(§  2-5.)  2.  That  the  Apostles  received  slave-holders 
into  the  Christian  Church,  and  continued  them 
therein,  without  giving  any  intimation,  either  at  the 
time  of  their  reception  or  afterwards,  that  slave-hold 
ing  was  a  sin  or  an  "  offence,"  (§  6,  7.)  3.  That  Paul 
sent  back  a  fugitive-slave  to  his  own  master  again, 
and  assigned  as  his  reason  for  so  doing,  that  master's 
right  to  the  services  of  his  slave,  (§  8.)  4.  That  the 
Apostles  frequently  enjoin  the  relative  duties  of 
master  and  slave,  and  enforce  these  injunctions  upon 
both  alike,  as  Christian  men  by  Christian  motives ; 
uniformly  treating  certain  evils  which  they  sought 
to  correct,  as  incidental  evils,  and  not  "  part  and  par- 
102 


NATURE   AND    ORIGIN   OF   SLAVERY.  103 

eel "  of  slavery  itself,  (§  9.)  5.  That  Paul  treated  the 
distinctions  which  slavery  creates  as  matters  of  very 
little  importance,  in  so  far  as  the  interests  of  the 
Christian  life  are  concerned,  (§  11.)  6.  That  he  de 
clares  that  this,  his  doctrine  respecting  the  relation 
of  slave  and  master,  is  wholesome  doctrine,  and  ac 
cording  to  godliness,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  (§  10.)  7.  And  directs  Christian  minis- 
ters*  to  teach  it  in  the  Church,  and  prohibits  the 
teaching  of  any  doctrine  at  variance  with  it  under 
the  most  solemn  sanctions  known  to  the  Church, 
(§  12.) 

All  this  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  idea  that 
slave-holding  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  sin  in  the  sight 
of  God,  or  accounted  an  offence  by  his  Church  ;  nor 
is  it  possible  to  maintain  the  opposite  doctrine,  with 
out  either  rejecting  the  Word  of  God  as  our  "  only 
rule  of  faith  and  obedience,"  (Larger  Catechism,)  or 
adopting  principles  and  methods  of  interpretation 
which  will  destroy  all  certainty  in  human  language. 

It  becomes,  then,  a  matter  of  great  practical  impor 
tance  to  him  who  receives  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of 
God — especially  in  view  of  the  conflict  of  opinion  in 
the  Christian  Church  in  our  day — to  answer  correctly 
the  question,  What  is  the  slave-holding  which  the 
Apostles  teach  is  not  a  sin  before  God,  or  an  "  offence  " 
in  his  Church. 


104  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTKINE   OF   SLAVERY. 


§  15.  Inspired  Defin^on  of  Slavery. 

The  Church  is  the  School  of  Christ ;  and  the  Bible 
is  the  authoritative  text-book  appointed  to  be  taught 
in  that  school.  If,  in  the  statement  of  a  doctrine 
taught  in  any  text-book,  doubtful  terms  are  used,  we 
must  go  to  the  text-book  itself  for  a  definition  of  those 
terms.  This  is  nothing  more  than  in  common  fair 
ness  any  author  might  demand. 

The  Church  is  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  /  and  the 
Bible  is  the  one  only  law-book  of  that  kingdom.  In 
the  case  of  any  other  system  of  laws,  if  a  certain  re 
lation  were  declared  to  be  a  lawful  one,  we  would  go 
to  the  code  of  laws  in  which  such  declaration  was 
made,  and  not  to  that  of  some  other  country  or  some 
other  age,  for  a  definition  of  that  relation.  Any 
other  course  than  this,  would  be  accounted  simply 
absurd. 

Let  us,  then}  adopt  this  course  in  the  case  before 
us.  The  Bible,  the  authoritative  text-book  in  the 
School  of  Christ,  the  code  of  laws  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  teaches  that  slave-holding  is  not  a  sin.  To 
the  Bible,  then,  let  us  go,  and  not  to  the  writings  of 
Aristotle,  or  to  the  Civil  Law  of  Rome,  or  to  the  laws 
of  South  Carolina,  for  a  definition  of  slavery.  In  the 
Bible  we  will  not  find  a  definition  of  the  term,  drawn 


NATUEE    AND   ORIGIN   OF   SLAVERY.  105 

out  in  strictly  logical  form — for  this  is  not  the  way 
in  which  the  Bible  ordinarily  presents  truth  :  it  con 
tains  no  strictly  logical  statement  of  many  of  the 
most  important  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion — but 
we  will  find  a  definition,  in  substance,  and  this  so 
presented  as  to  leave  the  ingenuous  inquirer  in  no 
doubt  respecting  the  matter. 

SLAVERY,  in  the  Bible  sense  of  the  term,  is  A  CON 
DITION  OF  MUTUAL  RIGHTS  AND  OBLIGATIONS.  THE 
RIGHTS  OF  THE  MASTER,  AND  THE  CORRESPONDING  OBLIGA 
TIONS  OF  THE  SLAVE,  ARE  TO  OBEDIENCE  AND  SERVICE. 

"  Servants,  be  obedient  to  them  that  are  your  mas- 
"  ters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling, 
"  in  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto  Christ ;  not  with 
"  ey&wrvice,  as  men-pleasers ;  but  as  the  servants  of 
"  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the'heart ;  with 
"  good  will  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord  and  not  to 
"  men ;  knowing  that  whatsoever  good  thing  any 
"  man  doeth,  the  same  shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord, 
"  whether  he  be  bond  or  free."— EpJi.  VI.  5-8.  See 
also  Col.  III.  22-25  ;  Titus  II.  9,  10. 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  SLAVE  AND  THE  CORRESPONDING 
OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  MASTER  ARE,  TO  "  THAT  WHICH  is 

JUST  AND  EQUAL." 

"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is 
"just  and  equal,  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  master 
« in  heaven."— Col.  IV  1.  See  also  EpJi.  VI.  9. 

5* 


106  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

For  an  exposition  of  these  words,  see  §  9. 

In  confirmation  of  this  view,  let  the  reader  turn  to 
Gal.  IV.  1,  2,  where  Paul  makes  use  of  the  condition 
of  a  slave  to  illustrate  that  of  a  child  during  his 
minority,  and  thus  of  the  Church  under  the  old  dis 
pensation. 

"  Now,  this  1  say,  that  the  heir,  as  long  as  he  is  a 
"  child,  diifereth  nothing  from  a  servant,  (doulos,  a 
"  slave,)  though  he  be  lord  of  all,  but  is  under  tu- 
"  tors  "  (epitropos,  a  guardian,  who,  standing  in  the 
place  of  a  parent,  is  entitled  to  the  obedience  due  a 
parent,)  "  and  governors,"  (oikonomos,  "  an  overseer  : 
one  who  had  authority  over  the  servants  of  a  family, 
to  assign  their  tasks  and  portions." — Robinsorfs  N.  T. 
Lex.)  "  until  the  time  appointed  of  the  father." 

Besides  wTiat  may  be  considered,  strictly  speaking, 
essential  to  slavery,  there  are  certain  other  particu 
lars,  so  generally  attaching  to  it,  that  they  may  be 
treated — as  they  are  by  the  sacred  writers — as  "  part 
and  parcel"  of  the  institution  itself.  Of  this  nature 
are  the  following,  viz. : 

1.  Slavery  is  a  relation  formed  without  the  consent 
of  the  slave  being  first  obtained. — This  is  not  essential 
to  slavery ;  since  in  the  law  of  Moses  provision  is 
made  for  a  man's  voluntarily  assuming  the  condition  of 
a  slave,  (Ex.  XXI.  5,  6,)  and  analogous  provisions 
exist  in  the  laws  of  many  slave-holding  states. 


NATURE   AND   ORIGIN   OF   SLAVERY.  107 

2.  It  is  a  relation  for  life. — Moses'  law  provided 
that  an  Israelite,  who,  in  any  way  had  become   a 
slave,  should  regain  his  freedom  at  the  end  of  seven 
years,  or  at  the  jubilee  at  the  farthest,  (Ex.  XXI.  2  ;) 
and  similar  laws  have  existed  in  other  countries ;  so 
that  slavery  may  exist  without  life-long  duration. 

3.  It  is  a  relation  which  cannot  be  lawfully  termi 
nated  without  the  consent  of  loth  the  parties. — In 
general,  the  consent  of  the  slave  is  presumed :  and 
yet  were  not  the  consent  of  both  parties  required, 
cases  of  great  injustice  might  arise — for  example :  By 
the  master's  manumitting  a  slave  in  his  old  age,  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  his  obligation  to  sup 
port  him. 

The  rights  and  obligations  already  stated,  and  these 
three  particulars,  are  all  that  the  Apostles  treat  as 
properly  belonging  to  slavery  itself.  Whatever  else 
may  attach  to  it  in  arny  particular  country  or  age, 
they  treat  as  incidental.  And  the  distinction  between 
that  which  is  "part  and  parcel"  of  slavery  itself  ,  and 
that  which  is  merely  incidental,  and  therefore  may 
vary  or  disapper,  while  slavery  itself  remains,  is  a  dis 
tinction  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  the 
Christian  -method  of  dealing  with  it,  as  set  forth  in 
the  life  and  writings  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 

It  is  a  distinction,  too,  which  has  always  been  re 
cognized  by  ethical  writers  of  reputation.  Thus, 


108  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

Puffendorf  s  definition  of  slavery  is  in  these  words : 
"  The  full  sum  and  notion,  then,  of  personal  servitude, 
amounts  to  this  :  that  a  man,  for  the  sake  of  food  and 
other  necessaries  of  life,  shall  lie  under  an  obligation 

*  O 

to  perpetual  labor ;  which,  if  taken  in  its  true  natural 
extent,  extracted  from  the  barbarous  cruelty  of  some 
masters,  and  the  unreasonable  rigor  of  some  laws, 
cloth  not  imply  an  extravagant  degree  of  hardship 
and  severity.  For  that  perpetual  obligation  is  well 
requited  by  a  perpetual  certainty  of  maintenance,  for 
which  those  who  work  for  hire  are  often  at  a  loss, 
either  through  want  of  business  or  willful  idleness." — 
Law  of  Nature  and  Nations,  B.  VI.,  Ch.  Ill,  §  10. 

And  Dr.  Hodge  writes :  "  The  grand  mistake,  as 
we  apprehend,  of  those  who  maintain  that  slave- 
holding  is  itself  a  crime,  is,  that  they  do  not  discrimi 
nate  between  slave-holding  in  itself  considered,  and 
its  accessories  at  any  particular  time  or  place.  They 
have  a  confused  idea  of  chains  and  whips,  of  degra 
dation  and  misery,  of  ignorance  and  vice,  and  to  this 
complex  conception  they  apply  the  name  slavery, 
and  denounce  it  as  the  aggregate  of  all  moral  and 
physical  evil.  Do  such  persons  suppose  that  slavery 
as  it  existed  in  the  family  of  Abraham,  was  such  as 
their  imagination  thus  pictures  to  themselves  ? 
Might  not  that  patriarch  have  had  men  purchased 
with  his  silver,  who  were  well  clothed,  well  instructed, 


NATURE    AND    ORIGIN    OF   SLAVERY.  109 

well  conpensated  for  their  labor,  and  in  all  respects 
treated  with  parental  kindness  ?  Neither  inadequate 
remuneration,  physical  discomfort,  intellectual  igno 
rance,  nor  moral  degradation,  is  essential  to  the  con 
dition  of  a  slave.  Yet,  if  all  these  ideas  are  removed 
from  the  commonly  received  notions  of  slavery,  how 
little  will  remain.  All  the  ideas  which  necessarily 
enter  into  the  definition  of  slavery,  are  deprivation  of 
personal  liberty,  obligation  to  service  at  the  discretion 
of  another,  and  the  transferable  character  of  the 
authority  and  claim  of  service  of  the  master." — 
Hodge's  Essays  and  Reviews,  pp.  483,  484. 

Either  of  these  definitions  would  answer  our  pur 
pose,  had  we  no  other  design  than  that  of  defending 
the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  that  slave-holding  is  neither 
a  sin  nor  an  "  offence  ;"*  but  neither  of  them  is  as 

*  In  commenting  upon  Dr.  Hodge's  view  of  the  nature  of  the  pro 
perty  which  a  master  has  in  his  slave,  (see  §  14,  1,)  Dr.  Barnes  writes : 
"According  to  this  view,  slavery  is  comparatively  a  harmless  thing — 
and  no  one  should  regard  slavery  as  essentially  an  undesirable  condi 
tion  of  society,  and  still  less  as  having  any  thing  in  it  that  is  morally 
wrong"  And  referring  to  Abraham's  slaves,  he  writes:  "They  may 
have  been  purchased  from  those  who  had  taken  them  as  captives  in 
war,  and  the  purchase  may  have  been  regarded  by  themselves  as  a 
species  of  redemption,  or  a  most  desirable  rescue  from  the  fate  which 
usually  attends  such  captives — perchance  from  death.  The  property 
which  it  was  understood  that  he  had  in  them  may  have  been  merely 
property  in  their  time,  and  not  in  their  persons.  Or  the  purchase 


110  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

perfect  a  definition  as  that  given  by  Paul ;  their  defi 
ciency  consisting  in  this,  that  whilst  stating  distinctly 
and  correctly  the  obligations  of  the  slave,  they  do  not 
take  as  explicit  notice  of  the  corresponding  obliga 
tions  of  the  master  ;  and  the  latter  enter  as  truly  into 
the  idea  of  slavery  as  the  former  do. 


§  16.  Origin  of  Slavery. 

The  Scriptural  theory  respecting  the  origin  of 
Slavery,  may  be  stated,  in  brief,  thus : — The  effect  of 
sin,  i.  e.,  disobedience  to  God's  laws,  upon  both  indi 
viduals  and  nations,  is  degradation.  A  people  under 
this  influence,  continued  through  many  generations, 
sink  so  low  in  the  scale  of  intelligence  and  morality 
as  to  become  incapable  of  safe  and  righteous  self- 
government.  When,  by  God's  appointment,  slavery 
comes  upon  them — an  appointment  at  once  punitive 
and  remedial;  a  punishment  for  sin  actually  com 
mitted,  and  at  the  same  time  a  means  of  saving  the 
sinning  people  from  that  utter  extermination  which 
must  otherwise  be  their  doom,  and  gradually  raising 
them  from  the  degradation  into  which  they  have 
sunk. 

may  have  in  fact  amounted  to  every  thing  that  is  desirable  in  eman 
cipation." — Script.  Views  of  Slavery ,  pp.  40,  75. 


NATURE   AND   ORIGIN   OF   SLAVERY.  Ill 

It  was  in  consequence  of  sin,  in  part  actually  com 
mitted,  and  yet  more  foreseen  in  the  future,  that  the 
first  slave  sentence  of  which  we  have  any  record  was 
pronounced  by  Noah  upon  Canaan  and  his  descend 
ants — "  Cursed  be  Canaan  ;  a  servant  of  servants 
shall  he  be  to  his  brethren."— Gen.  IX.  25.*  By  the 
mouth  of  Moses,  God  threatens  his  people  Israel,  in 
case  of  their  disobedience,  with  a  long  series  of  judg 
ments,  terminating  in  slavery, — u  And  the  Lord  shall 
bring  thee  into  Egypt  again  with  ships,  by  the  way 
whereof  I  spake  unto  thee.  Thou  shalt  see  it  no  more 
again  :  and  there  shall  ye  be  sold  for  ^bond-men  and 
bond-women,  and  no  man  shall  buy  you." — Deut. 
XXYIII.  68.  And  Solomon  declares,  in  general 
terms,  "  The  fool  (i.  e.,  the  wicked)  shall  be  the  ser 
vant  (ebed.  the  slave)  of  the  wise  in  heart." — Prov. 
XL  29. 

This  doctrine  of  God's  word  is  strikingly  illustrated 


*  The  connection  between  sin  and  slavery  appears  in  connection 
with  the  record  of  man's  first  sin — "  Therefore  the  Lord  sent  him 
forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from  which  he  was 
taken."— Gen.  III.  23."  "  To  till,"  in  the  Hebrew,  is  the  word  that 
means  a  slave,  but  is  here  used  as  a  verb,  and  literally  means  "  to 
slave  the  ground ;"  and  is  used  to  show,  not  that  Adam  had  become 
the  slave  of  any  other  person,  but  a  slave  to  his  own  necessities,  and 
that  the  labor  required  was  the  labor  of  a  slave." — Fletcher's  Studies 
on  Slavery,  p.  434. 


112  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

in  his  providence.  All  men  are  sinners,  and  hence 
all  are  subject  to  what  Fletcher  well  calls  "  the  first 
degree  of  slavery,"  i.  e.,  slavery  to  their  physical 
wants  and  necessities — "  in  the  sweat  of  their  face 
must  they  eat  their  bread."  Where  sin  has  been 
persisted  in  for  a  time  by  any  people,  then  conies  the 
second  dcfjree  of  slavery,  i.  e.,  subjection  to  despotic 
government.  The  deep  foundations  of  despotism  in 
Europe  are  laid  in  the  degradation  of  the  people. 
Overturn  those  despotisms  a  thousand  times,  and  you 
cannot  make  the  people  free,  unless  you  can  first  raise 
them  in  the  scale  of  intellectual  and  moral  being. 
"Where  sin  has  been  persisted  in  for  many  generations, 
and  a  people  have  become  deeply  degraded,  then 
comes  the  third  degree  of  slavery,  i.  e.,  personal  slavery. 
Uniformly  the  people  who  have  been  reduced  to  sla 
very,  have  been  those  degraded  by  the  long-continued 
operation  of  sin  in  just  this  way.*  "The  world  never 

*  "  We  may  everywhere  notice  that  some  among  the  family  of 
man  have  become  so  poisoned  with  sin,  so  destroyed,  that  they  are 
no  longer  safe  guardians  to  themselves,  even  under  the  general  inter 
dict,  that  animal  want  enslaves  us  all.  That  for  such  God  provides  as 
the  general  safety  may  seem  to  require.  That,  in  the  history  of  man, 
some  races  have  become  so  deteriorated  by  a  continued  action  in  op 
position  to  the  laws  of  God,  that  he  has  seen  fit  to  care  for  them,  by 
placing  them  under  the  control  of  others ;  or  by  placing  them,  in 
mercy,  under  the  guidance  of  a  less  deteriorated  race,  whom,  no 


NATURE   AND   ORIGIN    OF   SLAVERY.  113 

-^ 

has,  nor  will  it  ever  witness,  a  case  where  the  moral, 
intellectual,  and  physical  superior  has  been  in  slavery, 
as  a  fixed  state,  to  an  inferior  race.  The  law  giving 
superior  rule  and  government  to  the  moral,  intellec 
tual,  and  physical  superior,  is  as  unchangeable  as  the 
law  of  gravitation." — Fletchers  Studies  on  Slavery, 
p.  391. 

Of  the  remedial  operation  of  slavery,  we  have  a 
striking  illustration  in  the  case  of  the  African  race  in 
our  own  country.  In  the  history  of  nations,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  an  instance  in  which  a  people  have 
made  more  rapid  progress  upward  and  onward  than 
the  African  race  has  made  under  the  operation  of 
American  slavery.  That  they  have  not  yet  as  a  peo 
ple,  attained  a  point  at  which  they  are  capable  of 
safe  self-government,  is,  we  believe,  conceded  by 
every  one  personally  acquainted  with  them,  and 
therefore  capable  of  forming  an  intelligent  opinion. 
That  it  may  take  generations  yet,  to  accomplish  the 
gracious  purposes  of  God  in  inflicting  slavery  upon 
them,  is  very  possible.  The  work  which  it  has  taken 


doubt,  he  holds  responsible  for  the  good  he  intends  them.  And  may 
we  be  permitted  to  inquire  of  the  Christian  man,  if  this  position  pre 
sents  anything  contrary  to  the  general  law  of  benevolence  of  the 
Deity — contrary  to  the  welfare  of  man  on  earth,  or  his  hopes  of 
heaven." — Fletcher's  Studies  of  Slavery,  p.  504. 


114  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

ages  to  do,  it  often  takes  ages  to  undo.  But  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  that  God's  plan  has  operated 
well  thus  far 

MM 

National  sin,  persisted  in  from  generation  to  gene 
ration — then,  national  degradation,  becoming  deeper 
and  darker  as  time  rolls  on — then,  national  slavery, 
at  once  a  punishment  for  sin,  and  a  gracious  pro 
vision  for  saving  from  utter  extinction,  and  gradually 
restoring  again  to  the  position  from  which  sin  has 
dragged  its  victims  down.  Such  is  the  order  estab 
lished  by  God,  as  set  forth  both  in  his  word  and  in 
his  providence  ;  and  thus  understood,  there  is  a  pro 
found  philosophy  underlying  the  Scriptural  method 
of  dealing  with  slavery. 

§  17.  Counter-arguments. 

l 

To  most  ot  the  arguments  from,  express  Scripture 
advanced  by  anti-slavery  writers,  the  simple  state 
ment  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  slavery,  is  a  suffi 
cient  answer.  Such,  for  example,  as  Dr.  Barnes' 
argument  from  the  passages — "  For  one  is  your  mas 
ter,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren" — Matt. 
XXIII.  8.  And— "God  hath  made  of  one  Hood  all 
nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth."— Acts,  XVIII.  26. 

There  is  one  passage,  however,  which  may  need  a 


NATURE   AND   ORIGIN    OF   SLAVERY.  115 

passing  notice,  viz.  :  our  Lord's  words,  "  Whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so 
to  them ;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets." — Matt. 
VII.  2.  Or,  as  the  same  truth  was  expressed,  on  an 
other  occasion — "  And  the  second  (commandment)  is 
like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 
On  these  two  commadments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."— Matt.  XXII.  39,  40.  On  this,  Dr.  B. 
remarks :  "  This  rule  he  (Christ)  evidently  designed 
should  be  incorporated  into  his  religion  as  essential 
to  the  system,  and  it  is  manifest  that  nothing  incon 
sistent  with  the  fair  application  of  it  can  be  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Yet  its 
bearing  on  slavery  is  obvious.  Its  influence  in  secur 
ing  the  emancipation  of  all  those  now  held  in  bond 
age,  if  fairly  applied,  would  be  certain  and  inevitable. 
Freedom  is  sweet  to  man ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  if  a  man  were  in  all  circumstances  to  act  toward 
those  under  him,  as  he  would  desire  to  be  treated  if 
in  their  place,  the  bonds  of  servitude  would  soon  be 
loosed."— Script.  Views,  pp.  248,  '9. 

These  words  of  Christ  are  given  by  him,  expressly, 
as  a  summary  of  the  second  table  of  the  law,  delivered 
in  full  to  Israel  from  the  top  of  Sinai.  Turning  to 
this  second  table  of  the  law,  now,  as  written  by  God's 
own  finger,  we  read,  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neigh 
bor's  wife,  nor  his  man-servant  (male-slave),  nor  his 


116  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

maid-servant  (female-slave),  nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass, 
nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's." — Ex.  XX.  IT. 
Can  it  be  that  God  has  recognized — recognized  by 
regulating  it — a  right,  in  this  his  statement  in  full  of 
a  law,  which  is  directly  at  variance  with  the  principle 
of  that  law  ? 

Or,  taking  Dr.  B.'s  method  of  interpreting  the 
words  of  our  Lord,  we  ask,  Can  any 'father  rightfully 
restrain  the  waywardness,  or  correct  the  disobedience 
of  his  child  ?  Does  he  believe  that  if  he  were  the 
child,  and  the  child  were  the  father,  he  would  like  to 
be  chastised?  Or,  can  the  civil  magistrate  punish 
the  criminal  ?  Does  he  believe  that  if  he  were  the 
criminal,  and  the  criminal  were  the  magistrate,  he 
would  like  to  be  hung  ?  All  interpretation  of  general 
laws,  such  as  that  of  Dr.  B.,  is  delusive.  The  conse 
quences  of  sin,  consequences  established  by  God  him 
self,  must  come  upon  the  sinner ;  and  if  they  come 
as  chastening,  they  must  come  against  the  will  of  him 
who  suffers  under  them,  "for  no  chastening,  for 
the  present,  seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous;" 
and  all  this  without  any  violation  of  the  "law  of 
love." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RELATION    OF    THE    CHURCH    TO     SLAVERY. 

§  18.    The  Discipline  of  the  Church. 

"  THE  Church  is  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Its  officers  are  his  servants,  bound  to  exe 
cute  his  will.  Its  discipline  is  his  law,  which  he  as  a 
king  has  ordained.  The  Church  can  enjoin  what  he 
commands,  prohibit  what  he  condemns,  and  enforce 
her  testimonies  by  spiritual  sanctions."  Beyond  the 
Bible,  the  code  which  Christ  has  given  her,  she  can 
never  rightfully  go.  The  Bible,  and  that  alone,  must 
govern  her  discipline. 

Let  us  apply  this  principle — first  in  a  case  or  two, 
about  which,  we  presume,  there  would  be  no  differ 
ence  of  opinion,  that  we  may  see  clearly  its  scope 
and  import. 

Under  the  Roman  law,  in  Paul's  day,  a  father 
might  kill  his  child,  and  yet  be  guiltless  of  murder 
(see  §  9).  Supposing  now,  that  some  father,  a  mem- 

117 


118  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF    SLAVERY. 

her  of  the  Christian  Church,  had  taken  away  the  life 
of  his  child.  How  ought  the  Church  to  deal  with 
such  a  case?  Undoubtedly,  they  should  deal  with 
the  man  as  a  murderer,  and  as  such,  "  deliver  him 
over  to  Satan/7  Did  he  put  in  the  plea,  The  Roman 
law,  the  law  of  the  land,  gives  me  the  right  to  take 
away  the  life  of  my  child ;  the  reply  would  be,  That 
plea  might  avail  you  before  a  Roman  court,  but  in 
the  Church,  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  law  of  God  is  alone  of  authority  ;  and  by  that  law 
you  are  a  murderer,  and  under  that  law,  as  a  mur 
derer,  we  cast  you  out  of  the  Church. 

Or,  take  a  case  such  as  might  occur  in  some  of  our 
Northern  States.  The  laws  of  certain  States  allow 
husband  and  wife  to  be  divorced,  and  subsequently 
to  marry  again,  in  cases  in  which  the  law  of  God  does 
not  allow  it.  Supposing  a  case,  in  which  a  member 
of  the  Church,  divorced  lawfully  according  to  the 
States'  law,  but  unlawfully  according  to  God's  law, 
has  married  again,  comes  up  for  decision  in  a  Church 
court.  Will  the  plea  that  the  second  marriage  was 
lawful  according  to  law  of  the  State  shield  the 
offender  from  the  Church's  censure?  Not  for  a 
moment.  The  law  of  God,  and  not  the  law  of  this  or 
that  particular  State,  is  the  law  in  his  Church,  and 
must  regulate  all  her  discipline. 

The   only  cases  of  apparent  exception — and   the 


RELATION   OF   THE   CHURCH   TO    SLAVERY.  119 

exception  is  apparent  only — are  those  in  which  mat 
ters  left  undetermined  by  God's  law  are  prohibited 
or  enjoined  by  the  law  of  the  State.  In  this  case, 
under  the  general  requirement  of  Christian  men  "  to 
obey  magistrates,"  (Titus,  III.  1,)  an  offence  against 
the  law  of  the  State  may  become,  indirectly,  an 
offence  in  the  account  of  the  Church,  and  the  Church 
may  be  required  to  deal  with  it  as  such. 

Turning  now  to  such  cases  as  may  arise  in  con 
nection  with  slavery.  The  laws  of  our  slave-holding 
States,  at  the  present  time,  ignore  the  marriage  rela 
tion  among  slaves.  Supposing  a  slave,  a  member  of 
the  Church,  is  guilty  of  adultery,  as  that  crime  is 
defined  in  God's  law,  and  his  case  comes  up  for  adju 
dication  before  the  Church.  Will  the  plea  that  the 
act  was  not  adultery  according  to  the  State  law  be 
admitted  in  bar  of  judgment?  Not  for  a  moment. 
The  law  of  God,  and  not  the  law  of  the  State,  is  the 
law  in  his  Church. 

The  law  in  our  slave-holding  States,  at  the  present 
day,  gives  to  the  master  the  right  to  separate  finally 
husband  and  wife  among  his  slaves,  and  this  at  his 
pleasure  and  for  his  own  profit.*  But  supposing  that 

*  As  this  matter  is  often  referred  to  by  anti-slavery  writers,  let  me 
ask  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  an  extract  from  Fletcher's  Studies 
on  Slavery,  the  most  elaborate  work  on  slavery  which  has  been  pub 
lished  at  the  South  : — "  So  far  as  our  experience  goes,  masters  uni* 


120  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

a  master,  a  member  of  the  Church,  exercises  his 
power  in  violation  of  the  law  of  God,  will  the  plea 
that  the  State  law  gives  him  this  authority  be  ad- 

versally  manifest  a  desire  to  have  their  negroes  marry,  and  to  live 
with  their  wives  and  children,  in  conformity  to  Christian  rules.  And 
one  reason,  if  no  other,  is  very  obvious.  The  master  wishes  to  secure 
the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  his  household.  Besides  the  interest  of 
the  master,  his  education  on  the  subject  of  marriage  must  be  allowed 
to  have  a  strong  influence  on  his  mind  to  favor  and  foster  in  his  slaves 
a  connection  which  his  own  judgment  teaches  him  must  be  important 
to  their  happiness  and  his  own  tranquillity,  to  say  nothing  of  his  duty 
as  a  Christian.  Indeed,  we  never  heard  of  a  master  who  did  not  feel 
a  strong  desire,  a  pride,  to  see  his  slaves  in  good  condition,  contented, 
and  happy ;  and  we  venture  to  assert,  that  no  man  who  entertained 
a  proper  regard  for  his  own  character,  would  consent  to  sell  a  family 
of  slaves,  separately,  to  different  individuals,  when  the  slaves  them 
selves  manifested  good  conduct,  and  a  habit,  or  desire  to  live  toge- 
gether  in  conformity  to  the  rules  of  civilized  life.  That  the  owners 
of  slaves  have  sometimes  abused  the  power  they  possessed,  and  out 
raged  the  feelings  of  humanity  in  this  behalf,  is  doubtless  a  fact. 
Nor  do  we  wish  to  excuse  such  conduct  by  saying  that  proud  and 
wealthy  parents  sometimes  outrage  the  feelings  of  common  sense  and 
of  their  own  children  in  a  somewhat  similar  way.  These  are  abuses 
that  can  be  and  should  be  corrected ;  and  we  are  happy  to  inform 
Dr.  Wayland  that  we  have  lived  to  see  many  abuses  corrected,  and 
hope  that  many  more  corrections  may  follow  in  their  train." — Pp. 
38-41.  The  author  would  add,  that  in  a  ministry  of  twenty  years — 
all  of  it  in  Virginia — no  case  such  as  that  he  is  supposing  has  come 
up  for  decision  by  the  churches  to  which  he  has  ministered,  because 
no  such  case  has  occurred.  He  has  never  known  a  Christian  master 
to  violate  God's  law  of  marriage  in  the  case  of  his  slaves. 


RELATION    OF   THE   CHURCH   TO   SLAVERY.  121 

mitted  as  a  valid  defense  in  a  Church  court  ?  Not 
for  a  moment.  The  law  of  God,  and  not  the  law  of 
the  State,  must  govern  the  discipline  of  the  Church. 
Unscriptural  State  laws  can  no  more  determine  the 
discipline  of  the  Church  in  the  case  of  slaves  than  in 
the  case  of  freemen.* 

No  conflict  is  likely  to  arise  between  a  "  Free 
Church"  (i.  e.  not  a  State  Church) — and  we  believe 
that  Christ  intended  his  Church  to  be  "  free  "  every 
where — and  the  State  out  of  the  administration  of 
justice,  in  their  several  courts,  under  different  codes 
of  law.  The  discipline  of  the  Church  extends  to  her 
own  members  only,  and  they  become  such  by  their 
own  voluntary  choice ;  and  she  can  enforce  her  deci 
sions  by  spiritual  sanctions  alone.  There  are  110 
slave-laws  in  our  Southern  States — in  so  far  as  we 
know — -enjoining  that  which  is  contrary  to  the  law 
of  God.  If  such  laws  were  enacted,  the  course  of  the 
Christian  and  the  Christian  Church  is  very  plain ; 
they  must  obey  God,  and  not  man,  as  did  the  martyrs 
of  other  days.  But  where  the  State  law  simply  per 
mits  that  which  is  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  the 

*  The  reader  who  wishes  to  know  how  such  cases  as  those  stated 
above  are  treated  by  the  churches  of  Christ  in  the  slave  States,  can 
consult  a  very  able  "  Report  of  the  Charleston  (S.  C.)  Baptist  Associa 
tion  on  the  Marriages  of  Slaves,"  republished  in  the  February  number 
of  the  Presbyterian  Magazine  for  1857. 


122  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

Christian  man  can  abstain,  and  the  Church  can 
require  him  to  abstain,  under  the  penalty  of  her 
spiritual  sanctions,  from  the  exercise  of  the  permitted 
powers,  without  in  any  way  coining  in  conflict  with 
the  State. 


§  19.  The  Teaching  of  the  Church. 

Beyond  her  own  pale  the  Church  has  no  authority 
of  discipline.  On  the  world  at  large  she  can  operate 
directly  through  the  agency  of  her  teaching  alone. 

Her  commission  as  a  teacher  is  in  the  words,  "  Go 
ye  therefore  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what 
soever  I  have  commanded  you" — Matt.  XXVIII.  19, 
20.  As  the  Bible  is  the  only  record  of  what  Christ  hath 
commanded,  the  Bible  must  govern  her  in  all  her 
teaching.  "  Apart  from  the  Bible,  she  can  never 
rightfully  speak.  '  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimonies,' 
and  to  them,  alone  she  must  always  appeal,  and  when 
they  are  silent,  it  is  her  duty  to  put  her  hand  upon 
her  lips." 

What  is  the  Church  to  teach  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  ?  Just  what  Christ  hath  commanded.  Just 
what  the  Bible  teaches — adding  nothing  thereto — 
taking  nothing  therefrom.  And  this  she  is  to  teach 


RELATIOX    OF   THE   CHURCH   TO    SLAYER Y.  123 

publicly,  to  all  alike,  be  they  "  bond,"  or  be  they 
"  free,"  and  "  whether  men  will  hear,  or  whether  they 
will  forbear."  She  has  no  esoteric  doctrine  for  the 
initiated,  and  exoteric  for  the  people  :  no  doctrine  for 
the  master  which  the  slave  may  not  hear ;  and  none 
for  the  slave  which  the  master  may  not  hear,  as  Dr. 
Barnes  seems  to  imagine.*  "  In  Christ  Jesus  there 
is  neither  bond  nor  free." 

Do  the  ministers  of  Christ,  in  the  Southern  states, 
teach  from  the  pulpit  all  that  the  Bible  teaches  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  ?  Yes,  we  reply  :  as  freely  as  they 
do  the  doctrine  of  God's  word  on  any  other  subject. 
(See  §  14,  5.)  There  are  practical  difficulties  to  be 
encountered,  both  in  teaching  and  administering  the 
discipline  of  the  Church  touching  domestic  relations, 
as  every  Northern  pastor  must  have  learned  from  his 
own  experience  in  the  case  of  husband  and  wife, 

*  This  passage  teaches — "  That  the  ministers  of  religion  should  not 
labor  to  produce  a  spirit  of  discontent  among  slaves,  or  excite  them 
to  rise  upon  their  masters.  It  would  undoubtedly  forbid  all  such  in 
terference,  and  all  agencies  or  embassies  sent  among  slaves  themselves 
to  inflame  their  mind  against  their  masters,  in  view  of  their  wrongs. 
At  the  same  time,  nothing  in  this  passage,  or  in  any  other  part  of  the 
New  Testament,  forbids  us  to  go  to  the  master  himself,  and  show 
him  the  evils  of  the  system,  and  to  enjoin  upon  him  to  let  the  op 
pressed  go  free,  or  that  the  wrongs  of  the  system  may  not  be  fully 
set  before  him." — Barnes1  Notes  on  1  Tim.  VI.  5.  The  italics  are 
Dr.  B.'s  own. 


124  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTKINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

parent  and  child.  But  we  believe  that  the  Southern 
Church  is  as  faithful  to  her  duty,  in  so  far  as  the  re 
lations  established  by  slavery  are  concerned,  as  the 
Church,  either  North  or  South,  is  respecting  the 
duties  growing  out  of  the  marriage  or  parental  rela 
tion.  It  is  not  to  Scriptural  teaching  from  the  pul 
pit,  that  Southern  Christians  or  men  of  the  world  ob 
ject,  but  to  the  unscriptual  teaching  of  men  "puffed 
up  with  pride  though  they  know  nothing,  having  a 
morbid  fondness  for  so-called  philosophical  questions 
and  logomachies." 


§  20.  Church  and  State. 

The  Church  of  God  is  not — as  seems  to  be  taken 
for  granted  by  many — an  institution  intended  to  do 
all  the  good  which  needs  to  be  done  in  the  world,  and 
wage  war  upon  every  form  of  human  ill.  There  are 
other  institutions,  intended  to  do  good  and  to  alleviate 
the  ills  of  life,  to  enable  men  to  "  live  in  all  godliness 
and  honesty,"  that  are  as  truly  institutions  of  God  as 
the  Church  itself. 

Civil  government  is  one  of  these.  "  The  powers 
"  that  be  are  ordained  of  God  /  whosoever  therefore 
"  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God. 
"  He  (i.  e.  the  civil  ruler)  is  the  minister  of  God  to 


KEIATION   OF   THE   CHURCH   TO    SLAVERY.  125 

"  thee  for  good."— Kom.  XIII.  1-4.  "  I  exhort, 
"  therefore,  that  first  of  all,  supplications,  prayers, 
"  intercessions,  and  giving  of  thanks,  be  made  for  all 
"  men  ;  for  Icings  and  for  all  that  are  in  authority  ; 
"  that  we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life,  in  all 
"  godliness  and  honesty.  For  this  is  good  and  accept- 
"  able  in  the  sight  of  God  our  Saviour." — 1  Tim.  II. 
1-4.  "  Submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man 
"  for  the  Lord's  sake ;  whether  it  be  to  the  Jdng^  as 
"  supreme,  or  unto  governors,  as  unto  them  that  are 
"  sent  by  him  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and 
"  for  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well."— 1  Pet.  II. 
13,  14. 

According  to  the  plain  teaching  of  Scripture  in 
such  passages  as  those  quoted  above — and  we  might 
multiply  the  quotations  did  it  seern  necessary — 
the  Civil  government  is  as  truly  an  institution  of 
God  as  is  the  Church  ;  and  a  great  deal  of  the  good 
which  needs  to  be  done  in  this  world,  is,  by  God's 
appointment,  to  be  done  through  its  agency ;  and  a 
great  many  of  the  ills  of  life  are  to  be  alleviated  in 
the  same  way.  In  his  own  proper  sphere,  the  civil 
ruler  is  as  truly  "  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for 
good,"  as  is  the  minister  of  the  Church.  Is  the  "  evil 
doer  to  be  terrified  ?"  the  civil  ruler  "  beareth  not  the 
sword  in  vain."  Is  "  a  life  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty"  to  be  secured  to  the  Christian  man?  the 


126  THE  jCIIRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

civil  ruler  is  ''sent  of  God,"  for  the  "punishment  of 
evil-doers  and  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well." 

The  Christian  man  is  bound  to  regard  these  ap 
pointments  of  God.  The  Church  may  no  more  right 
fully  intrude  itself  into  the  province  of  the  State, 
than  the  State  may  intrude  itself  into  the  province  of 
the  Church.  The  fact,  if  fact*  it  be,  that  the  State 
may  not  be  accomplishing  all  the  good  it  ought,  that 
civil  or  political  evils  are  suffered  under  its  adminis 
tration,  that  it  needs  reforming — -does  not  authorize 
the  Church  to  step  in  and  supply  these  deficiencies,  or 
reform  these  abuses,  any  more  than  a  similar  state  of 
things  in  the  Church  would  authorize  the  State  to 
interfere.  All  human  institutions — human,  in  that 
they  are  administered  by  man,  though  ordained  of 
God — are  imperfect  in  their  operation.  And  this, 
not  because  the  ordinance  of  God  is  imperfect,  but 
because  sin  has  introduced  disorder  into  the  working 
of  all  earthly  things ;  has  put  man's  nature  out  of 
joint.  The  Church,  the  State,  the  Family — we- dis 
cover  evils  in  the  practical  working  of  them  all. 
And  such,  we  believe,  will  be  the  case  so  long  as 
man,  but  partially  sanctified  at  best,  is  "  God's  minis 
ter  "  in  their  administration. 

"We  freely  grant,  and  sincerely  rejoice  in  the 
truth,  that  the  healthful  operations  of  the  Church  in  its 
own  appropriate  sphere,  re-act  upon  all  the  interests 


RELATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  SLAVERY.     127 

of  man,  and  contribute  to  the  progress  and  prosperity 
of  society.  But  we  are  far  from  admitting,  either, 
that  it  is  the  purpose  of  God,  that  under  this 'present 
dispensation-  of  religion,  all  evil  shall  be  banished 
from  this  sublunary  state,  and  earth  be  converted  into 
a  paradise ;  or,  that  the  proper  end  of  the  Church  is 
the  direct  promotion  of  univeral  good." — Synod  of 
South  Carolina,  1848. 

The  conduct  of  the  Apostles — and  the  same  is  true 
of  that  of  Christ  himself — was  always  in  conformity 
with  these  principles  so  plainly  laid  down  in  the 
Word  of  God.  They  lived,  and  preached,  and 
labored  ;  they  planted  the  Church,  and  nurtured  it,  in 
countries  where  the  civil  government  was  oppressive, 
and  greatly  needed  reforming ;  where  the  State  failed 
in  the  accomplishment  of  much  of  the  good  wThich 
God  designed  the  State  to  do ;  where  many  of  the 
ills  of  life  which  civil  government  is  intended  to  cor 
rect,  were  suffered  to  prevail  unchecked  ;  where  per 
son  and  property  were  insecure  ;  where  the  judges 
took  bribes  and  the  rulers  oppressed  the  people  ;  and 
the  Apostles  suffered  in  their  own  persons  in  all  these 
various  ways.  Yet  never  do  we  find  these  heaven- 
guided  ministers  of  the  Church,  either  individually 
or  in  their  synods,  intermeddling  with  the  affairs  of 
state.  Never  do  we  see  them  taking  the  lead  in 
political  agitation ;  never  did  they,  on  the  Sabbath, 


128  THE    CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

lay  aside  the  Gospel  that  they  might  preach  civil  or 
legal  reform.  Having  received  a  specific  commission 
to  "  tea'ch  all  things  whatsoever  Christ  had  com 
manded,"  they  abide  by  their  commission ;  never 
transgressing  it,  by  adding  any  thing  to,  or  taking 
anything  from  Christ's  commandment. 

Would  that  the  Church  in  succeeding  ages,  had 
followed  their  example.  Alas  !  she  did  not.  With 
increasing  numbers,  increasing  wealth,  and  increasing 
power,  the  ordinance  of  Christ  came  to  be  disre 
garded,  the  wisdom  of  man  was  substituted  for  the 
truth  of  God,  and  the  Church  was  wedded  to  the 
State  in  unholy  union.  And  then,  as  the  conse 
quence  of  such  a  step,  growing  corruption  in  doctrine 
and  in  manners  mark  her  histery ;  and  a  long,  dark 
night  of  ignorance,  and  degradation,  and  sin,  settles 
down  upon  Christendom.  The  State,  cursed  in  her 
union  with  the  Church ;  and  the  Church  yet  more 
deeply  cursed  in  her  union  with  the  State. 

These  unholy  bonds  are  now,  in  some  measure, 
broken  throughout  Christendom.  .  In  our  own  coun 
try,  they  have  been  more  thoroughly  broken  than  in 
any  other ;  and  God  forbid  that  they  should  ever  be 
formed  anew.  And  let  us  not  say  that  because  our 
government  is  a  government  of  the  people,  and  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  our  land  is  divided  into  different 
denominations,  there  is  no  danger  of  Church  and 


RELATION   OF   THE   CHUECH   TO   SLAVERY.  129 

State  ever  uniting.  If  such  a  union  is  formed,  it  will, 
of  necessity,  be  different  in  its  character,  from  any 
that  has  existed  heretofore.  And  he  who  has  care 
fully  watched  the  course  of  things  during  the  summer 
last  passed,  may  have  some  inkling  of  a  form  which 
it  may  take  on.  A  state  of  things  in  which  political 
questions  shall  be  discussed  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  ecclesiastical  councils,  turning  away 
from  the  matters  which  Christ  has  given  them  in 
charge,  shall  busy  themselves  with  affairs  of  state ;  and 
men's  religious  feelings  shall  be  evoked  as  elements 
of  political  strife,  and  they  made  to  feel  that  in  promot 
ing  the  interests  of  this  or  that  party  they  are  verily 
doing  God  service.  Experience  teaches  us  that  there 
is  no  tyranny  like  that  of  a  mob.  The  bloodiest  page 
in  the  bloody  history  of  France,  is  that  which  records 
the  despotism  of  the  people.  And  so,  we  believe, 
should  God,  in  righteous  judgment,  suffer  a  union  to 
be  formed  between  a  government  of  the  people,  and  a 
Church  such  as  ours,  it  will  prove  itself  the  most  dis 
astrous  union  of  Church  and  State  the  world  has 
ever  seen ;  disastrous  to  civil  liberty ;  and  yet  more 
disastrous  to  the  religion  of  Christ. 

God  has  assigned  to  the  Church  and  the  State 
each  its  separate  province,  and  neither  has  ever 
intruded  into  the  province  of  the  other  without  suf 
fering  therefor.  To  the  Church  God  has  intrusted 


130  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTEINE    OF    SLAVERY. 

all  the  interests  of  man  which  more  immediately  con 
cern  the  life  to  come ;  his  Gospel,  and  this  she  is  to 
preach  to  every  creature ;  and  the  supervision  of  the 
manners  of  his  people,  her  members,  and  these  she  is 
to  regulate  by  his  law,  and  so  train  them  for  his  hea 
venly  kingdom.  To  the  State  God  has  intrusted  all 
the  interests  of  man  which  more  immediately  concern 
this  present  life — all  questions  respecting  capital  and 
labor,  civil  rights  and  political  franchises,  the  pro 
tection  of  the  weak,  the  forcible  repression  of  crime, 
and  the  general  administration  of  justice  between 
man  and  man.  Each,  acting  in  its  own  sphere,  indi 
rectly  reacts  upon  the  other.  A  pure  Church  is 
a  blessing  to  '  a  State,  and  an  incorrupt  State  is  a 
blessing  to  the  Church.  But  let  neither  the  one  nor 
other  o'erstep  the  "metes  and  bounds"  which  God 
has  prescribed.  The  transgression  of  God's  law, 
whether  by  individuals  or  nations,  is  sin,  and  sin  and 
sorrow  came  into  our  world  hand-in-hand,  and  hand- 
in-hand  they  have  walked  "  up  and  down  in  the 
earth  "  ever  since. 


CONCLUSION 

GOD'S  WORK  IN  GOD'S  WAT. 

WHERE  God  has  appointed  a  work  for  his  Church, 
he  has  generally  appointed  the  way  also. in  which  that 
work  is  to  be  done.  And  where  this  is  the  case,  the 
Church  is  as  much  bound  to  respect  the  one  appoint 
ment  as  the  other.  Both  the  work  of  the  Church  and 
the  way  are  often  more  distincly  set  forth  in  the  life 
and  ministry  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  than  in  any 
positive  precept.  But  in  whatever  manner  the  will 
of  God  is  made  known,  that  will  is  law  to  his  Church. 

In  the  case  of  a  race  of  men  in  slavery,  the  work 
which  God  has  appointed  his  Church— as  we  learn  it, 
both  from  the  example  and  the  precepts  of  inspired 
men — is  to  labor  to  secure  in  them  a  Christian  life 
on  earth  and  meetness  for  his  heavenly  kingdom. 
The  African  slave,  in  our  Southern  States,  may  be 
deeply  degraded  ;  the  debasing  effects  of  generations 
of  sin  may,  at  first  sight,  seem  to  have  almost  oblite 
rated  his  humanity,  yet  is  he  an  immortal  creature  ; 


131 


132  THE    CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

one  for  whom  God  the  Son  died  ;  one  whom  God  the 
Spirit  can  re-fashion,  so  as  to  make  him  a  worthy  wor 
shipper  among  God's  people  on  earth,  and  a  welcome 
worshipper  among  the  ransomed  in  heaven ;  one 
whom  God  the  Father  waiteth  to  receive  as  a  return 
ing  prodigal  to  his  heart  and  to  his  home.  And  the 
commission  of  the  Church,  "  go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature"  sends  her  a 
messenger  of  glad  tidings  to  him  as  truly  as  to  men 
far  above  him  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  On  this 
point  there  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among 
God's  people,  North  or  South,  who  intelligently  take 
the  word  of  God  as  their  "  only  rule  of  faith  and 
obedience."  This  is  the  work  of  God,  assigned  by 
him  to  his  Church,  in  so  far  as  the  slave  race  among 
us  is  concerned.* 

In  what  way  is  this  work  to  be  done  ?  We  answer, 
By  preaching  the  same  Gospel  of  God's  grace  alike 
to  the  master  and  the  slave  ;  and  when  there  is  credi 
ble  evidence  given  that  this  Gospel  has  been  received 
in  faith,  to  admit  them,  master  and  slave,  into  the 
same  Church — the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
which  "  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free  " — and  to  seat 

*  "  The  fact  is,  that  the  great  duty  of  the  South  is  not  emancipa- 
tion,  but  improvement.  The  former  is  obligatory  only  as  a  means  to 
an  end,  and  therefore  only  under  circumstances  where  it  would  pro< 
mote  that  end." — Hodge's  Essays  and  Reviews,  p.  507. 


133 


them  at  the  same  table  of  the  Lord,  that  drinking  of 
the  same  cup,  and  eating  of  the  same  loaf,  they  may 
witness  to  the  world  their  communion  in  the  body 
and  blood  of  the  same  Saviour.  Arid  having  received 
them  into  the  same  Church,  to  teach  them  the  duties 
belonging  to  their  several  "  callings"  out  of  the  same 
Bible,  and  subject  them  to  the  discipline  prescribed 
by  the  same  law,  the  law  of  Christ.  And  this,  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  is  to  be  addressed  not  to  her 
members  only,  but  to  the  world  at  large ;  and  her 
discipline  of  her  members  is  to  be  exercised  not  in 
secret,  but  before  the  world,  that  the  light  which  God 
has  given  her  may  appear  unto  all  men.  This  is  just 
the  way  in  which  Christ  and  his  Apostles  dealt  with 
slavery.  The  instructions  they  have  given  us  in  their 
life  and  in  their  writings  prohibit  any  other. 

In  this  way  must  the  Church  labor  to  make  "  good 
masters  and- good  slaves,"  just  as  she  labors  to  make 
"  good  husbands,  good  wives,  good  parents,  good 
children,  good  rulers,  good  subjects.  "With,  the  ulti 
mate  effect  of  this  upon  the  civil  and  political  condi 
tion  of  the  slave  the  Church  has  nothing  directly  to 
do.  If  the  ultimate  effect  of  it  be  the  emancipation 
of  the  slave — we  say — in  God's  name,  "  let  it  come." 
"  If  it  be  of  God,  we  cannot" — and  we  would  not  if 
we  could — "  overthrow  it,  lest  haply  we  be  found 
even  to  tight  against  God."  If  the  ultimate  effect  be 


THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF    SLAVERY. 

the  perpetuation  of  slavery  divested  of  its  incidental 
evils — a  slavery  in  which  the  master  shall  be  required, 
by  the  laws  of  man  as  well  as  that  of  God,  "  to  give 
unto  the  slave  that  which  is  just  and  equal,"  and  the 
slave  to  render  to  the  master  a  cheerful  obedience 
and   hearty  service — we   say,  let  slavery  continue. 
It  may  be,  that  such  a  slavery,  regulating  the  rela 
tions  of  capital  and  labor,   though  implying  some 
deprivation  of  personal  liberty,  will  prove  a  better 
defense  of  the  poor  against  the  oppression  of  the  rich, 
than  the  too  great  freedom  in  which  capital  is  placed 
in  many  of  the  free  States  of  Europe  at  the  present 
day.     Something  of  this  kind  is  what  the  masses  of 
free  laborers  in  France  are  clamoring  for  under  the ' 
name  of  "  the  right  to  labor"     Something  of  this 
kind  wonld  have  protected  the  ejected  tenantry  of 
the  Duke  of  Sutherland  against  the  tyranny  which 
drove  them  forth  from  the  home  of  their  childhood, 
and  quenched  the  fire  upon  many  a  hearth-stone,  and 
converted  once   cultivated   fields   into   sheep-walks. 
It  may  be,  that  Christian  slavery  is  God's  solution  of 
the  problem  about  which  the  wisest  statesmen  of 
Europe  confess  themselves  "  at  fault."     "  Bonds  make 
free,  be  they  but  righteous  bonds.     Freedom  enslaves, 
if  it  be  an  unrighteous  freedom."  * 

*  For  an  able  examination  of  this  point  the  reader  is  referred  to 


135 


To  this  way  of  dealing  with  slavery,  thus  clearly 
pointed  out  in  God's  word,  does  God  in  his  provi 
dence  "  shut  us  up,"  for  years  to  come.  None  but 
the  sciolist  in  political  philosophy  can  regard  the 
problem  of  emancipation — even  granting  that  this 

9 

were  the  aim  which  the  Christian  citizen  should  have 
immediately  in  view — as  a  problem  of  easy  solution. 
And  thoughtful  Christian  men  at  the  North,  it  has 
seemed  to  us,  often  lose  sight  of  the  greatest  difficul 
ties  in  the  case.  .  It  is  comparatively  an  easy  matter 
to  devise  a  scheme  of  emancipation  in  which  all  the 
just  rights  and  the  well-being  of  the  master  shall  be 
provided  for.  But  how  shall  we,  as  God-fearing  men, 
provide  for  the  just  rights  and  well-being  of  the 
emancipated  slave  ?  To  leave  the  partially  civilized 
slave  race,  in  a  state  of  freedom,  in  contact  with  a 
much  more  highly  civilized  race,  as  all  history  testi 
fies,  is  inevitable  destruction  to  the  former.  Their 
writ  of  enfranchisement  is  their  death-warrant.  To 
remove  one  hundredth  part  of  the  annual  increase  of 
the  slave  race  to  Liberia,  year  by  year,  would  soon 
quench  for  ever  that  light  of  Christian  civilization 
which  a  wise  philanthropy  has  kindled  upon  the  dark 


Slavery  and  the  Remedy ;  or,  Principles  and  Suggestions  for  a 
Itemedial  Code,  by  Samuel  Nott.  Crocker  and  Brewster,  publishers, 
Boston. 


136  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

coast  of  Africa.  How  shall  we  provide  for  the  well- 
being*  of  the  enfranchised  slave?  Here  is  the  real 
difficulty  in  the  problem  of  emancipation. 

We  mean  to  express  no  opinion  respecting  the 
feasibility  of  the  future  emancipation  of  the  slave 
race  among  us.  As  we  stated  in  the  outset,  our  pur 
pose  is  to  introduce  no  question  on  which  the  Bible 
does  not  give  us  specific  instruction.  And  we  have 
referred  to  the  question  of  emancipation — a  question 
which  it  belongs  to  the  State,  and  not  the  Church,  to 
settle — simply  that  the  reader  may  see  how  com 
pletely  God's  word  and  God's  providence  are  "  at 
one,"  in  so  far  as  the  present  duty  of  the  Church  is 
concerned.  Is  slavery  to  continue?  We  want  the 
best  of  Christian  masters  and  the  best  of  Christian 
slaves,  that  it  may  prove  a  blessing  to  both  the  one 
and  the  other.  Is  ultimate  emancipation  before  us  ? 
We  want  the  best  of  Christian  masters  to  devise  and 
carry  out  the  scheme  by  which  it  shall  be  effected, 
and  the  best  of  Christian  slaves,  that  their  emancipa 
tion  may  be  an  enfranchisement  indeed.  And  this  is 
just  what  the  Bible  plan  of  dealing  with  slavery  aims 
at.  The  future  may  be  hidden  from  view  in  "  the 
clouds  and  darkness"  with  which  God  oft  veils  his 
purposes;  but  there  is  light — heaven's  light — upon 
the  present.  And  it  is  with  the  present  alone  we  have 
immediately  to  do. 


GOD'S  WORK  IN  GOD'S  WAY.  137 

This  is  one  way  of  dealing  with  slavery,  and  so 
firmly  convinced  are  we  that  it  is  God's  way  for  his 
Church  that  we  cannot  abandon  it. 

Another  way  proposed  is — confounding  the  distinc 
tion  between  slavery  itself  and  the  incidental  evils 
which  attach  to  it  in  our  country,  and  at  the  present 
day,  under  the  guise  of  dealing  with  "AMERICAN- 
SLAVERY;"  in  the  teaching  of  the  Church  to  denounce 
slave-holding  as  a  SIN,  as  "  evil,  always  evil,  and  only 
evil,"  (Barnes'  Notes,  1  Cor.  VII.  21) ;  and  in  the 
discipline  of  the  Church  to  treat  it  as  an  u  offence" 
and  "  detach  the  Church  from  it,  as  it  is  detached 
from  piracy,  intemperance,  theft,  licentiousness,  and 
duelling,"  (Church  and  State,  p.  193),  and  so  labor 
directly  to  put  an  end  to  slavery  throughout  the 
world.* 

*  That  the  reader  may  see  how  far  Dr.  B.  would  go,  we  give  his 
own  words : — "  A  Church,  located  in  the  midst  of  slavery,  though  all 
its  members  may  be  wholly  unconnected  with  slavery,  yet  owes  an 
important  duty  to  society  and  to  God  in  reference  to  the  system,  and 
its  mission  will  not  be  accomplished  by  securing  merely  the  sanctifi- 
cation  of  its  members,  or  even  by  drawing  within  its  fold  multitudes  of 
those  who  shall  be  saved.  Its  primary  work  as  a  Church  may  have 
reference  to  an  existing  evil  within  its  own  geographical  limits.  The 
burden  which  is  laid  upon  it  may  not  be  primarily  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen,  or  the  diffusion  of  Bibles  and  tracts  abroad.  The  work 
which  God  requires  it  to  do,  and  for  which  specifically  it  has  been 
planted  there,  may  be  to  diffuse  a  definite  moral  influence  in  respect 


138  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

To  all  this  we  object — 

FIRST. — There  is  a  radical  fallacy  involved  in  the 
use  which  is  made  of  the  expression,  "  AMERICAN 
SLAVERY." 

By  American  Slavery,  Dr.  Barnes  means — and  the 
same  is  true  of  all  anti-slavery  writers  whose  works 
we  have  seen — the  aggregate  of,  1.  Slavery  itself; 
and,  2.  The  incidental  evils  which  attach  to  it  in  this 
country  and  at  this  day,  considered  as  inseparable — 
an  indivisible  unit.  This  treatment  of  the  sub 
ject  is — 

1.  UnpkilosophicaL  Nothing  is  more  real  than 
the  distinction,  as  set  forth  in  the  writings  of  Paul. 
(See  §  15.)  The  fact  that  Dr.  B.  can  write  about 
Jewish  slavery,  and  Roman  slavery,  and  American 
slavery,  as  different  the  one  from  the  others,  shows 
that  there  must  be  something  common  to  them  all,  to 
which  we  give  the  common  name,  Slavery ;  and 
something  peculiar  to  each,  which  we  designate  by  the 
adjuncts  Jewish,  Roman,  American.  Dr.  B.  admits 

to  an  existing  evil  institution." — Church  and  Slavery,  p.  21.  To  con 
vert  the  Church  of  God  into  a  kind  of  "  omnibus,"  in  which  every 
thing  called  a  moral  reform  shall  be  free  to  ride  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  Gospel,  as  Dr.  B.  does,  (see  Church  and  Slavery,  pp.  159- 
164,)  is  bad  enough ;  but  thus  actually  to  turn  the  Gospel  out  upon 
the  pave,  until  a  certain  moral  reform  has  been  carried  home,  is  at 
once  the  folly  of  fanaticism  and  the  fanaticism  of  folly. 


GOD'S  WORK  IN  GOD'S  WAY.  139 

that  Roman  slavery,  as  encountered  by  the  Apostles 
in  their  day,  was  far  more  cruel  and  oppressive  than 
American  slavery  now  is* — that  is,  that  much  of  the 
incidental  evil  which  once  attached  to  slavery  has 
disappeared.  If  much  has  already  disappeared,  why 
may  not  all  that  remains  disappear  in  like  manner  ? 
The  change  that  has  taken  place,  has  been  effected 
under  the  benign  influence  of  Christianity.  And  just 
as  certainly  as  we  believe  that  Christianity  is  from 
God,  and  is  destined  to  a  final  triumph  in  the  world, 
just  so  certainly  do  we  believe  that  slavery — if  it  is 
to  continue  to  exist- — must  continue  to  be  modified  by 
it,  until  all  its  incidental  evils  disappear. 

2.  It  is  unscriptural.  By  this  we  mean,  1.  It  is 
an  essentially  different  way  of  approaching  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  from  that  adopted  by  the  Apostles. 
Paul  never  wrote  a  line  respecting  Jewish  slavery — 

*  "It  is  proper  to  concede  that  the  state  of  things  was  such  that 
they  (the  Apostles)  must  have  encountered  it  (slavery),  and  that  it 
then  had  all  the  features  of  cruelty,  oppression,  and  wrong,  which 
can  ever  exist  to  make  it  repellant  to  any  of  the  feelings  of  humanity, 
or  revolting  to  the  principles  of  a  Christian.  It  is  fair  that  the  advo 
cates  of  the  system  should  have  all  the  advantage  which  can  be  de 
rived  from  the  fact  that  the  Apostles  found  it  in  its  most  odious  forms, 
and  in  such  circumstances  as  to  make  it  proper  that  they  should 
regard  and  treat  it  as  an  evil,  if  Christianity  regards- it  as  such  at  all." 
— Scriptural  Views  of  Slavery,  pp.  250,  251.  Compare  this  with  a 
quotation  given  a  little  further  on. 


140  THE    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE    OF   SLAVERY. 

meaning  thereby,  slavery  itself  and  the  incidental 
evils  which  attached  to  it  in  his  day  and  among  the 
Jews — or  Roman  slavery  ;  nor  does  he  give  the 
Churches  any  directions  couched  in  any  such  lan 
guage  as  this.  He  writes  about  slavery,  which  he 
treats  as  neither  a  sin  nor  an  offence  ;  and  about  cer 
tain  evils  attaching  to  slavery  as  he  encountered  it, 
which  he  treats  as  sinful,  and  requires  the  Church,  in 
her  own  proper  sphere,  to  labor  to  correct.  2.  It 
ignores  the  very  ground  upon  which  the  whole 
method  of  dealing  writh  slavery  prescribed  in  the 
Word  of  God,  is  predicated. 

In  his  introduction  to  his  "  Scriptural  Yiews  of 
Slavery,"  Dr.  Barnes  justifies  his  dealing,  as  he  does, 
with  what  he  calls  "  American  Slavery,"  upon  the 
ground — 

1.  That  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  is 
slavery  divested  of  all  the  incidental  evils  of  which 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  Christianity  will  ever 
divest  it ;  and  hence,  that  all  which  now  belongs  to 
it,  ought  to  be  considered  as,  for  all  practical  purposes, 
essential  to  the  system.* 

*  "If  any  system  of  slavery  is  sanctioned  by  the  Bible,  it  may  be 
presumed  that  that  which  exists  in  the  United  States  is.  This  is  a 
Christian  land — a  land,  to  a  degree  elsewhere  unknown,  under  the 
influence  of  the  Christian  religion.  It  could  hardly  be  hoped  that  a 


GOD'S  WOKK  IN  GOD'S  WAY. 


This  is  certainly  "American  glorification"—"  with 
a  witness."  For  ourselves,  we  love  our  country  ;  and 
we  feel  an  honest,  patriotic  pride  in  her  standing 
among  the  nations.  But  God  forbid,  that  we  should 
entertain  the  thought  that  her  social  institutions, 
either  in  law  or  in  fact,  shall  never  be  brought  more 
fully  under  the  control  of  God's  truth  than  they  now 
are  ;  that  the  wife  shall  never  be  better  protected 
against  the  wrong  often  inflicted  by  the  profligate 
husband  ;  and  the  child  against  the  cruelty  of  the 
drunken  father  ;  and  all  this,  without  destroying  the 
essential  character  of  the  marital  and  parental  rela 
tions  as  set  forth  in  the  Word  of  God  ;  that  our  heart 
and  our  home  relations  shall  never  be  more  thoroughly 
Christian  than  they  now  are.  And  so,  too,  with  re 
spect  to  slavery.  Had  we  heard  such  sentiments  as 
those  just  quoted  from  Dr.  B.,  as  part  of  a  Fourth-of- 
July  oration  of  some  beardless  Sophomore,  we  could 
have  comforted  ourselves  with  the  reflection  —  in 
creasing  years  may  give  the  young  man  wisdom. 
That  we  should  read  them  from  the  pen  of  one  who 
must  have  "  gray  hairs  here  and  there  upon  him,"  we 
can  account  for  only  by  calling  to  mind  what  Paul 

state  of  society  could  be  found,  in  which  slavery  could  be  better  de 
veloped,  or  where  its  developments  would  more  accord  with  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  Bible,  than  in  our  own  land."  —  Scriptural  Views,-  p.  14. 


142  THE   CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY, 

x 

tells  us  of  the  effects  of  feeding  on  "  unwholesome 
words.'"'—!  Tim.  VI.  3. 

2.  That  what  we  have  designated  as  God's  way  of 
dealing  with  slavery,  is  dealing  with  slavery  in  the 
abstract,  and  not  as  a  practical  matter."* 

What  Dr.  B.'s  idea  of  dealing  with  an  institution 
in  the  abstract  is,  we  know  not.  We  have  always 
supposed  that  such  dealing  implied  the  abstraction — 
i.  e.,  the  taking  away  or  neglecting  for  the  time  being 
— something,  either  essential  or  incidental,  belonging 
to  such  institution.  But,  surely,  we  are  not  dealing 
with  American  slavery — slavery  as  it  exists  among 
us,  in  the  abstract — in  any  such  sense  as  this. 

We  take  slavery,  and  the  whole  of  slavery,  just  as 
it  exists  among  us,  and,  after  Paul's  example,  we 
separate  it  into — 1.  That  which  is  essential,  i.  e.,  that 

*  It  is  a  subject  of  not  unfrequent  complaint,  that,  in  the  exami 
nation  of  this  subject  (slavery),  the  adversaries  of  the  system  endeavor 
to  show  that  slavery  as  it  exists  in  our  country,  is  contrary  to  the 
Bible,  instead  of  confining  themselves  to  the  naked  question,  whether 
slavery  in  the  abstract  is  right  or  wrong.  The  very  question — the 
only  one  that  is  of  any  practical  importance  to  us — is,  whether 
slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States  is,  or  is  not,  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  As  an  abstract 
matter,  there  might  indeed  be  some  interest  attached  to  the  inquiry 
whether  slavery,  as  it  existed  in  the  Roman  empire  in  the  time  of  the 
Apostles,  or  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  was  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion,—  Scriptural  Views,  pp.  10,  12, 


143 


which  must  continue  if  slavery  continues  ;  and,  2. 
That  which  is  incidental,  i.  e.,  that  which  may  disap 
pear  and  slavery  yet  remain.  Having  done  this,  we 
then,  in  discussion,  deal  with  both  parts.  We  prove 
from  the  Word  of  God,  that  the  .first  is  not  in  viola 
tion  of  his  law  ;  and  show,  just  as  clearly,  that  much 
of  the  second  is  in  violation  of  that  law.  And  in  our 
practical  dealing  with  it,  as  a  Church,  we  deal  with 
both  parts.  T\i&  first  we  treat  as  not  sinful,  and  re 
quire  both  the  parties  to  conform  to  its  obligations ; 
much  of  the  second — and  just  so  much  of  it  as  is  in 
violation  of  God's  law — we  prohibit,  with  all  the 
authority  given  by  Christ  to  his  Church  over  her 
members,  and  in  every  proper  way,  we  seek  to  re 
move  from  the  world  at  large.  If  this  is  not  dealing 
with  slavery  in  its  entirety,  we  ask,  What  is  ?  If  this 
is  dealing  with  slavery  in  the  abstract,  we  ask,  What 
have  we  abstracted  ? 

We  remarked  that  there  was  "  a  radical  fallacy  in 
volved  in  the  use  which  is  made  of  the  expression, 
American  slavery"  as  used  by  Dr.  B.  and  other  writers 
of  the  same  school.  The  reader  will  now  see  just 
what  was  meant  by  that  remark. 

The  only  meaning  which  can  properly  attach  to  the 
expression  American  slavery,  is  that  of  slavery  as  it 
exists  in  these  United  States  of  America.  In  this 
sense  of  the  expression,  we  are  dealing  with  American 


144:  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTKINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

slavery,  just  as  truly,  and  just  as  fully,  and  with  far 
more  of  practical  wisdom,  we  think,  than  Dr.  B.  is. 
The  real  difference  between  us  is,  that  we  distinguish 
between  that  which  is  essential  and  that  which  is  in 
cidental,  as  Paul  did,  and  we  deal  with  each  as  it 
deserves,  as  Paul  did.  Whilst  Dr.  B.,  neglecting  this 
distinction,  and  thus,  practically,  treating  all  as  essen 
tial,  deals  with  it  as  an  indivisible  unit ;  and  he  -does 
this  under  the  guise  of  dealing  with  "  American  sla 
very,"  foisting  upon  that  phrase,  in  addition  to  its 
proper  meaning,  the  idea  of  the  indivisible  unity  of 
the  mass.  To  take  such  a  course  as  this,  when  the 
issues  in  question  are  such  as  they  are,  is  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  "a  begging  of  the  question." 

SECOND. — We  object  to  the  course  proposed  by  Dr. 
B.  and  others,  for  dealing  with  slavery,  because  it  re 
quires  the  Church  to  obtrude  herself  into  the  province 
of  the  State,  and  this,  in  direct  violation  of  the  ordi 
nance  of  God.  A  course  which  has  never  been  taken 
in  times  past,  without  disastrous  consequences  to  the 
Church  which  did  the  wrong,  as  well  as  to  the  State 
which  permitted  the  wrong  to  be  done.  Many  a 
thing  which  it  is  right  and  proper,  and  even  the  duty 
of  the  Christian  citizen,  in  this  our  free  country,  to 
do,  the  Church,  as  such,  has  no  right  to  intermeddle 
with.  It  is,  doubtless,  the  duty  of  the  Christian  citi 
zen,  for  example,  to  use  all  proper  means  to  inform 


145 


himself  respecting  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for 
office,  and  having  thus  informed  himself,  to  vote  for 
the  one  whom  he  believes  will  best  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  office.  But  will  any  Christian  man, 
hence  contend  that  it  is  right  for  the  preacher,  in  the 
pulpit  and  on  the  Sabbath,  to  discuss  the  claims  of 
rival  candidates,  and  the  Church,  in  her  councils  to 
direct  her  members  how  to  vote  ?  The  Church  and 
State  has  each  its  own  appropriate  sphere  of  opera 
tion  assigned  it  of  God,  and  neither  can  innocently 
intrude  herself  into  the  province  of  the  other. 

THIED. — It  leads  to  tampering  with  God's  truth, 
and  "  wresting  the  Scripture,"  as  Dr.  B.  has  done  in 
his  Notes,  by  the  application  to  them  of  principles 
and  methods  of  interpretation,  which  destroy  all  cer 
tainty  in  human  language.  In  order  to  make  the 
Bible  declare  that  slave-holding  is  a  sin,  when  it 
plainly  teaches  j  ust  the  contrary  ;*  and  to  teach  in 

.. 

*  "  As  it  appears  to  us  too  clear  to  admit  of  either  denial  or  doubt, 
that  the  Scriptures  do  sanction  slaye-holding ;  that  under  the  old  dis 
pensation  it  was  expressly  permitted  by  divine  command,  and  under 
the  New  Testament  is  nowhere  forbidden  or  denounced,  but  on  the 
contrary,  acknowledged  to  be  consistent  with  the  Christian  character 
and  profession,  (that  is,  consistent  with  justice,  mercy,  holiness,  love 
to  God,  and  love  to  man ;)  to  declare  it  to  be  a  heinous  crime  is  a 
direct  impeachment  of  the  Word  of  God."  "When  Southern  Chris 
tians  are  told  that  they  are  guilty  of  a  heinous  crime,  worse  than 

7 


14:6  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

the  Church  doctrines  which  we  are  forbidden  to 
teach  under  the  most  solemn  sanctions.  (See  §  12.) 
This  course  has  led  not  a  few,  once  fair  and  promis 
ing  members  of  the  Church,  and  even  ministers,  into 
open  "blasphemy;"  and  Paul  teaches  us,  that  such 
is  its  natural  tendency,  (1  Tim.  YI.  4.)  "We  have  no 
desire  to  walk  in  their  way,  or  to  meet  their  doom. 

FOURTH. — It  requires  us  to  quit  a  method  of  dealing 
with  slavery  which  has  worked  well  in  time  past — all 
of  real  advantage  to  the  slave  that  has  ever  been  done 
by  the  Church  has  been  done  in  this  way — and  to 
substitute  for  it  a  method  which,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  is  a  mere  experiment,  and  an  experiment  which 
has  wrought  nothing  but  harm  to  the  slave*  thus  far 

piracy,  robbery,  or  murder,  because  they  hold  slaves,  when  they 
know  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles  never  denounced  slave-holding  as 
a  crime,  never  called  upon  men  to  renounce  it  as  a  condition  of  admis 
sion' into  the  Church,  they  are  shocked  and  offended  without  being 
convinced.  They  are  sure  that  their  accusers  cannot  be  wiser  or  bet 
ter  than  their  Divine  Master,  and  their  consciences  are  untouched  by 
denunciations  which  they  know  if  well  founded,  must  affect  not  them 
only,  but  the  authors  of  the  religion  of  the  Bible." — Hodge's  Essays 
and  Reviews,  pp.  503,  484. 

*  In  illustration  of  this  remark,  we  quote  from  Fletcher — "  Thirty 
years  ago,  we  occasionally  had  schools  for  negro  children ;  nor  was  it 
uncommon  for  masters  to  send  their  favorite  young  slaves  to  these 
schools ;  nor  did  such  acts  excite  attention  or  alarm,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  any  missionary  had  free  access  to  that  class  of  our  population. 


147 


— and  we  say  this,  after  watching  its  operation  during 
a  ministry  of  twenty  years,  all  of  it,  in  God's  provi 
dence,  spent  in  a  slave-holding  state. 

For  all  these  reasons,  we  can  never  adopt  this 
second  way  proposed.  GOD'S  WOKE  nr  GOD'S  WAY, 
the  Church  at  the  South,  in  common  with  some  por 
tions  of  the  Church  at  the  North  also,*  have  inscribed 
upon  their  banner ;  and  under  that  banner  do  we 
mean  to  fight  the  "  Lord's  battles,"  grace  assisting  us, 
until  he  who  bid  us  gird  on  our  armor  shall  give  us 
leave  to  put  it  off.  Churches  of  God  may  cut  us  off 
from  their  communion.  They  cannot  break  our  union 
with  Christ,  "  the  Head."  Ministers  of  the  Gospel, 

But  when  we  found,  with  astonishment,  that  our  country  was  flooded 
with  abolition  prints,  deeply  laden  with  the  most  abusive  falsehoods, 
with  the  obvious  design  to  excite  rebellion  among  the  slaves,  and  to 
spread  assassination  and  bloodshed  through  the  land  ;  when  we  found 
these  transient  missionaries,  mentally  too  insignificant  to  foresee  the 
result  of  their  conduct,  or  wholly  careless  of  the  consequences, 
preaching  the  same  doctrines — these  little  schools,  and  the  mouths  of 
these  missionaries,  were  closed.  And  great  was  the  cry.  Dr.  Way- 
land  knows  whereabout  lies  the  wickedness  of  these  our  acts!  Let 
him  and  his  coadjutors  well  understand  that  these  results,  whether  for 
the  benefit  or  injury  of  the  slave,  have  been  brought  about  by  the 
work  of  their  hand." — Studies  on  Slavery,  p.  41. 

We  could  add  much  of  similar  character,  from  our  own  obser 
vation. 

*  See  the  paper  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
lerian  Church,  0.  S.,  in  1845.  (Assembly's  Digest,  pp.  811-813.) 


14:8  THE   CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINE   OF   SLAVERY. 

from  whom  we  have  a  right  to  expect  better  things, 
may  revile  us — we  "  fear  God  rather  than  man."  "  A 
conscience  void  of  offence  before  God,"  is  above  all 
price.  "With  this  whole  subject  of  slavery,  we  mean 
to  deal  just  as  Christ  and  his  Apostles  dealt — to 
preach  what  they  preached — to  labor  as  they  labored 
— to  govern  the  Church  of  God  as  they  governed 
it — in  Christian  fellowship  and  brotherhood  with 
God's  people  at  the  North,  and  in  other  lands,  if  we 
MAY  : — in  faithfulness  to  Christ,  though  in  opposition 
to  all  the  world,  if  we  MUST. 


THE     END 


THE    DOCTRINE    OF    BAPTISM. 


THE    DOCTRINE    OF    BAPTISM. 

A  SCRIPTURAL  EXAMINATION   OF   THE   QUESTIONS   RESPECTING- 
I.   THE  MEANING  OF  BAPTIZO. 
II.   THE  MODE  OF  BAPTISM. 
III.   THE  SUBJECT  OF  BAPTISM. 

BY  GEO.   D.    ARMSTRONG,   D.D. 
In  One  volume,  12mo.,  340  pages.     Price  $1  00. 

"  We  regard  this  as  altogether  the  most  able  and  faithful  work  on  the  general  subject 
now  to  be  had." — The  Congregationalist  (Boston). 

"  We  have  given  this  work  a  very  careful  examination.    As  a  treatise  for  the  people, 
we  know  of  none,  on  the  whole,  equal  to  it." — Central  Presbyterian  (Richmond). 

"  A  very  thorough  and  Scriptural  investigation  of  the  subject.    Dr.  A.  gives  soft  words 
but  hard  arguments." — The  Presbyterian  (Philadelphia). 

"  Dr.  A.  handles  his  points  with  scholarly  accuracy  and  dilectic  skill,  while  every  page 
evinces  his  excellence  as  a  Christian.1' — Presbyterian  Banner  (Pittsburg). 

"  A  book  remarkable  for  its  originality,  as  also  for  its  method  and  conciseness."— 
Genesee 


"If  any  of  our  readers  are  seeking  information  respecting  the  mode  or  subject  of 
baptism,  we  hope  they  will  buy  and  read  this  volume." — Southern  Churchman. 

"  This  work  is  in  advance  of  current  views.  It  locates  the  issue  just  where  it  is  obliged 
for  ever  to  rest — in  the  Bible.  Dr.  A.  is  very  methodical  and  concise,  never  wasteful  of 
words,  and  marches  to  his  conclusions  with  the  form  and  force  of  mathematical  demon 
stration." — Methodist  Quarterly  Review. 

"  This  work  is  calculated  to  do  good  in  and  out  of  our  Church ;  and  we  commend  it  to 
those  who  desire  to  examine  this  subject  carefully  and  thoroughly,  as  well  calculated  to 
aid  them  in  their  research." — Princeton  Review. 

"  This  book  is  just  such  a  repository  of  true  expositions  of  all  the  important  plages 
of  Scripture — many  of  them  difficult — bearing  upon  the  question  of  Baptism,  as  an  intel 
ligent  Sabbath-school  or  Bible-class  teacher  often  feels  the  need  of.  As  a  model  of 
popularizing  the  most  technical  of  all  doctrinal  discussions,  even  the  most  accomplished 
in  the  ministry  may  study  it  to  advantage."— Presbyterian  Critic. 


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